hardscrabble
[hahrd-skrab-uh l]
- providing or yielding meagerly in return for much effort; demanding or unrewarding: the hardscrabble existence of mountainside farmers.
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Origin of hardscrabble
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for hardscrabble
Contemporary Examples
Their harrowing escape to Erbil has ended in a precarious and hardscrabble existence.
But this hardscrabble, prairie town, with its population of 5,000 people, cast its charm on Ballantine.
For many fans, her hardscrabble youth and rough-and-tumble style were viewed as endearing strengths.
ESPN’s ‘The Price of Gold’ Revisits the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan ScandalAmy Zimmerman
January 15, 2014
At Big Valley, a co-ed pre-K-12 in hardscrabble Modesto, Calif., the trip to Washington D.C. has been an annual rite of passage.
In his hardscrabble campaign, there might not even have been a podium ready to welcome him.
Historical Examples
I've come into possession of a house which might suit you—'Hardscrabble.'
Reels and SpindlesEvelyn Raymond
“We need not be afraid of Hardscrabble winds any more, papa,” said David.
The InglisesMargaret Murray Robertson
The village of Podunk looks down on the neighboring town of Hardscrabble.
The GalaxyVarious
Mo Mercer was the oracle of the renowned village of Hardscrabble.
Hardscrabble, flushed and swollen with importance, stepped forward.
The Girl Aviators' Sky CruiseMargaret Burnham
hardscrabble
- (modifier) (of a place) difficult to make a living in; barren
- great effort made in the face of difficulties
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for hardscrabble
adj.
1804, U.S. colloquial, the name of an imaginary barren place "where a livelihood may be obtained only under great hardship and difficulty;" from hard + scrabble. First recorded in journals of Lewis and Clark. Perhaps the original notion is "vigorous effort made under great stress," though this sense is recorded slightly later (1812).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper