hard time
17
8.2
- noun
- /hɑrd taɪm/
- Informal
:
condena
- And the brother who has served hard time for stealing.
He's done too much hard time with too many sonnet writers in Harvard Yard.
- He's done too much hard time with too many sonnet writers in Harvard Yard.
Examples
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I could do hard time.
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You see, I never had to do hard time like you...
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I served some hard time in this place.
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I'm looking at six whole months hard time.
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Including all that hard time up there at Angola Farm.
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If you're convicted, you do hard time in a federal prison, with no possibility of parole.
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The alternative is hard time with a bunkmate named Bubba who hasn't seen a woman in 20 years.
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Many criminals are forced to do hard time in dangerous maximum security prisons.
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After being sentenced for five years, he knew he would face hard time in jail.
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The judge warned him that the crime could lead to hard time with no chance of parole.
Synonyms
∞
9.1
A period spent in prison as punishment
659
7.0
Punishment a court gives to someone found guilty, often prison time
19
4.2
A period of time someone must spend in jail as punishment for a crime
How Harsh
76
5.7
- Informal
17
8.2
19
4.2
- Formal
289
4.2
225
3.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'hard' (difficult) + 'time' (period) transparently yield a general sense of 'a difficult period', so a B1 learner would likely infer a related meaning. However, the conventionalized, specific sense of serving a severe prison sentence (as in 'do/serve hard time') is an idiomatic specialization of that general meaning and may not be fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Hard time comes from prison life: hard points to tough work and strict rules and time is the sentence you 'serve' in 'prison', so it means 'a period of imprisonment that is especially harsh'.