I. adjective
Etymology: hard (I) + scrabble, n.
: yielding or gaining a bare or meager living with greatest difficulty or hardest labor : barren , impoverished , marginal
ranges from hardscrabble farms in the hilly portions … to productive farms on prairie land — Social Forces
a rather hardscrabble life … among people who had few comforts and amenities — Henry Beston
a hardscrabble farmer
till their hardscrabble acres … intensively — Pa. Game News
II. noun
: hardscrabble land
homestead of field, stream, hayfield, and hardscrabble — S.T.Williamson