Meanings
interjection
- datedslangExpressed to someone suffering misfortune.
Synonyms: bad luck, hard luck, hard cheese, bad luck, cuhdear, hard luck, pity, shame
nounhard lines (uncountable)
- datedslanguncountableHardship; misfortune.
“There ain’t no drain of nothing short handy, is there?” said the Chicken, generally. “This here sluicing night is hard lines to a man as lives on his condition.” Captain Cuttle proffered a glass of rum […]
1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
interjectionExpressed to someone suffering misfortune.
Cite this entry
APA
hard lines. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hard%20lines
MLA
“hard lines.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hard%20lines. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hard lines,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hard%20lines.
Source: hard lines on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.