H'ARDNESS, noun [See Hard.] Firmness; close union of the component parts; compactness; solidity; the quality of bodies which resists impression; opposed to softness and fluidity.

1. Difficulty to be understood.

2. Difficulty to be executed or accomplished; as the hardness of an enterprise.

3. Scarcity; penury; difficulty of obtaining money; as the hardness of the times.

4. Obduracy; impenitence; confirmed state of wickedness; as hardness of heart.

5. Coarseness of features; harshness of look; as hardness of favor.

6. Severity of cold; rigor; as the hardness of winter.

7. Cruelty of temper; savageness; harshness.

The blame

May hang upon your hardness

8. Stiffness; harshness; roughness; as the hardnesses of sculpture.

9. Closeness; niggardliness; stinginess.

10. Hardship; severe labor, trials or sufferings.

Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2:3.