HARDSCRABBLE


Meaning of HARDSCRABBLE in English

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

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.