hardhanded

== English == === Alternative forms === hard-handed hard handed === Etymology === From hard +‎ handed, from the firmness of a strike with the hand or the hardness of calluses on a laborer's hands. === Adjective === hardhanded (comparative more hardhanded, superlative most hardhanded) Forceful, excessive, draconian, or abusive. 1785, William Cowper, “The Garden”, in The Task, a Poem, in Six Books. By William Cowper [...] To which are Added, by the Same Author, An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq. Tirocinium, or a Review of Schools, and The History of John Gilpin, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, No. 72 St. Paul's Church-Yard, OCLC 221351486; republished as The Task. A Poem. In Six Books. To which is Added, Tirocinium: or, A Review of Schools, new edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed for Thomas Dobson, bookseller, in Second-street, second door above Chestnut-street, 1787, OCLC 23630717, page 87: 'Tis the cruel gripe, / That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts, / The hope of better things, the chance to win, / The wiſh to ſhine, the thirſt to be amus'd, / That at the found of Winter's hoary wing, / Unpeople all our counties, of ſuch herds, / Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, looſe, / And wanton vagrants, as make London, vaſt / And boundless as it is, a crowded coop. Working-class; having hands hardened from labor. ==== Synonyms ==== (forceful or draconian): domineering, harsh, heavy-handed, strict, tyrannical (with work-hardened hands): blue-collar, hardworking, working-class, workworn ==== Antonyms ==== (antonym(s) of “forceful or draconian”): lenient, soft-handed (antonym(s) of “with work-hardened hands”): leisured, upper-class ==== Derived terms ====