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(Canada, US, of land) Requiring much work to farm, and ultimately not very productive. quotations examples
In the case of Allegheny Briskow, poverty, the drought, the grinding hardships of these hard-scrabble Texas counties, had dwarfed the intellect, the very soul of a splendid young animal.
1922, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter V, in Flowing Gold
Villages in the more remote and hard-scrabble regions, including some mountain areas, are being abandoned, and nature is starting to creep back.
2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 286
(Canada, US, by extension) Involving hard work and struggle. quotations examples
Being the savage’s bowsman, that is, the person who pulled the bow-oar in his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend upon him while taking that hard-scrabble scramble upon the dead whale’s back.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 72, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley
While Rose tried to keep up with Westbrook, the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony struggled mightily, going 4 of 19 for 18 hardscrabble points.
2016 November 28, Mike Vorkunov, “Despite Flash of Rose’s Prime, Knicks Are Dazed by Westbrook and Thunder”, in The New York Times