hardscrabble

英 [hɑːd'skræbl]
  • adj. 贫脊的;贫困的
  • n. 贫瘠之农地
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hardscrabble 困难的,贫困的

hard,坚硬的,艰苦的,scrabble,摸,找,挣扎。即贫瘠的土地上寻生计,土里刨食,引申词义困难的,艰苦的。

hardscrabble (n.)
in popular use from c. 1826 as a U.S. colloquial name for any barren or impoverished place "where a livelihood may be obtained only under great hardship and difficulty" [OED]; from hard (adj.) + noun from scrabble (v.). Noted in 1813 as a place-name in New York state; first recorded in journals of Lewis and Clark (1804) as the name of a prairie. Perhaps the original notion was "vigorous effort made under great stress," though this sense is recorded slightly later (1812). As an adjective by 1845.