hard up
verb1
Synonym of harden up (to become or make hard)
hard up
adj1
Colloquial Lacking money; impecunious; in financial difficulties.
- 1886, Jerome K. Jerome, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, On being hard up I can speak with authority on the subject of being hard up. I have been a provincial actor. If further evidence be required, which I do not think likely, […]
- Miss Frensham is young, but she is not beautiful, and to put it in that way is to pay her a noticeable compliment. She is also, I gather, regrettably hard up. Now, as I never conceal from my clients, my business is conducted on a purely financial basis […]1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
2
Colloquial Lacking anything.
- We were hard up for amusements.
3
Broadly, Colloquial Desperate.
- Dating him? She must be hard up.