Noun: hard yards
| Singular | hard yards |
| Plural | the hard yards |
Sample Sentences
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do the hard yards
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put in the hard yards
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As with coupons and vouchers, there is seemingly no end to the opportunities that exist to improve a Web site's traffic flow by giving something away for nothing—as long as users are prepared to put in the hard yards, of course. [2007, Ian Cocoran, The Art of Digital Branding, Allworth Press, →ISBN, pages 128–129:]
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Those clever women at the frontier of fashion do all the hard yards for us, every month, by attending the shows in London, Paris and New York. [2010, Kelly Doust, A Life in Frocks, Sydney: Murdoch Books, →ISBN, page 129:]
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In tough conditions, with no room for complacency, the campaign will need to slog out the hard yards, give it 110% and leave it all on the field. [2017 August 22, Peter Lewis, “In a tough campaign the marriage equality team faces hard yards ahead”, in The Guardian:]
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The couple had already put in the hard yards: Fred started out in '60s freakbeat combos The Weeds and Lollipop Shoppe, with Toody joining him in early '80s punk trio The Rats. [2021 December, Jon Dale, “Dead Moon fever!”, in Uncut, →ISSN, page 8:]
Nouns inflected like hard yards
Welsh Marches,
shakes,
three Fs,
three Rs,
Lionesses,
Leonardeschi,
Olympic Rings,
old days,
Edoni,
llama's pajamas,
stubborns,
dwindles,
hard yards,
antelope's cantaloupes,
three marks of existence,
dismals,
Seven Seas,
Chosen People,
Ready Reckoners,
temperates, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. A sporting analogy referring to the game of rugby football, where making progress on the field, in measurements of yards, may lead to accomplishment and victory.
2. Alternatively derived from sailing, when furling or unfurling the canvas from certain (perhaps higher) spars was both dangerous and difficult.