hardtack
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of hardtack
Explanation
Hardtack is an old-fashioned type of bread or cracker that sailors used to bring with them during long voyages. The taste and texture of hardtack wasn't popular, but it lasted a long time without spoiling. If you take a close look at the word hardtack, you'll have a clear sense of how sailors felt about having to eat it day after day. The hard part is accurate — it was so dry and tough that it was difficult to bite. Tack once meant "food," but in dialect it was specifically "bad food." Hardtack had many alternate names, including "soda crackers" and "sea biscuits," but also "dog biscuits" and "molar breakers."
Vocabulary lists containing hardtack
The American Civil War
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A Toast to Bread
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The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ridge-runners looking for more adventure will continue to Sunup Lake and Hardtack Lake.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 31, 2022
Writes Post: "Hardtack belongs in the ceramic group and is the best substitute for a durable bathroom tile yet discovered."
From Time Magazine Archive
The U.S. continued testing, at Nevada and in the Pacific, from Operation Teapot through Operation Hardtack in October of 1958.
From Time Magazine Archive
Operation Hardtack, the U.S. nuclear test program at Eniwetok, will get under way this week, weather permitting.
From Time Magazine Archive
Preparations for Hardtack proceeded in a frenzy made more difficult by the unpredictable spring weather at Eniwetok.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
