hardship
(ˈhɑːdʃɪp)
[f. hard a. + -ship.]
† 1. The quality of being hard to bear; hardness; rigour; severity; painful difficulty. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 364 Herdschipe of liue. 1676 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 35 Lady Latimer was delivered with much hardship on Wednesday, the child dead. |
2. A condition which presses unusually hard upon one who has to endure it; hardness of fate or circumstance; severe toil or suffering; extreme want or privation.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 2686 What vnhappe & hardship hapnes the to! 1671 Milton P.R. i. 341 Men to much misery and hardship born. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 667 Inur'd to Hardship, and to homely Fare. 1775 Burke Sp. Conc. Amer. Wks. III. 110 The Durham act..confines the hardship of want of representation to the case of subsidies. 1847 Grote Hist. Greece ii. xlvii. (1862) IV. 179 He had his share of the benefit as well as of the hardship. 1889 Ruskin Præterita III. i. 18 Resolute choice of a life of hardship. |
b. With a and pl. An instance of this.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 6 Swuche oðre heardschipes þet moni flechs mai þolien. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 33 The unwelcome hardships of Winter. 1722 De Foe Relig. Courtsh. i. i. (1840) 26 A hardship that never was put upon any one before. 1832 H. Martineau Demerara ii. 14 The hardships inflicted on himself and his brother partners. |
† c. An infliction of severity or suffering; a piece of harsh treatment. Obs.
| 17.. Swift (J.), To recover the effects of their hardships upon us. 1780 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 369, I do not know that I have ever offered..a hardship, or even an affront, to the religious prejudices of any person whatsoever. |