hardscrabble

English - English

Definition of hardscrabble in English English dictionary

Of or pertaining to land that takes a lot of work in order to farm and even then is not very productive

In the case of Allegheny Briskow, poverty, the drought, the grinding hardships of these hard-scrabble Texas counties, had dwarfed the intellect, the very soul of a splendid young animal.

said of land that takes a lot of work in order to farm and even then is not very productive

of a bare living gained by great labor; "the sharecropper's hardscrabble life"; "a marginal existence"

yielding little by great labor; "a hardscrabble farm"; "poor soil"

{s} unrewarding, providing very little profit or reward in return for a great deal of effort

yielding little by great labor; "a hardscrabble farm"; "poor soil

Hyphenation

hard·scrab·ble

Turkish pronunciation

härdskräbıl

Pronunciation

/ˈhärdˌskrabəl/ /ˈhɑːrdˌskræbəl/

Etymology

[ 'härd-"skra-b&l ] (adjective.) 1804. hard + scrabble