English

Alternative forms

• hard-handed
• hard handed

Adjective

hardhanded ‎(comparative more hardhanded, superlative most hardhanded)

1. 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.

   • 1869, Thomas Carlyle, Thomas Carlyle's Collected works: Volume 9, page 207

     To deliver out of that Egyptian bondage to Wretchedness, and Ignorance, and Sin, the hardhanded millions

   • 2008, Ben Shapiro, Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House, page 4

     Martin Van Buren—plain, republican, hardhanded-democratic-locofoco Martin Van Buren—has [the East Room] now garnished with gold framed mirrors 'as big as a barn door,'

   • 2011, Robin Hobb, Dragon Keeper: Volume One of the Rain Wilds Chronicles, page 409

     He's a hard man, hardhanded, hard-hearted, he doesn't strike me.

2. Working-class; having hands hardened from labor.
   • 1864, Thomas Carlyle, Critical and miscellanous essays, page 374:

     To deliver out of that Egyptian bondage to Wretchedness, and Ignorance, and Sin, the hardhanded millions, of whom this hardhanded, earnest witness, and writer, is here representative.

   • 2002, Alexander Leggatt, English Stage Comedy 1490-1990, ISBN 1134657897, page 23:

     One reason why Peter Quince and his actors make such a fine mess of the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe is they are 'Hardhanded men that work in Athens here'.

   • 2003, Henry George & ‎Kenneth C. Wenzer, Henry George: Collected Journalistic Writings - Volume 1, ISBN 0765610663, page 68:

     All experience proves that capital invariably secures the lion's share of the products and profits of hardhanded industry.

Synonyms

• (forceful or draconian): domineering, harsh, heavy-handed, strict, tyrannical
• (with work-hardened hands): blue-collar, hardworking, working-class, workworn

Antonyms

• (forceful or draconian): lenient, soft-handed
• (with work-hardened hands): leisured, upper-class