rock hard
21
3.2
- adjective
- After hours in the freezer, the ice cream became rock hard and difficult to scoop.
- rock-hard abs
- rock-hard muscles
- rock-hard body
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Watch on YouTubeThat is way too high pressure if it's rock hard.
- That is way too high pressure if it's rock hard.
- Again, you're rock hard, I'm telling you.
- But I am Tiffany curious about why a rock hard penis does not equate to male behavior.
Examples
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Dried fish, a rock-hard hank of barley bread, strips of dried reindeer meat.
Fiction book (1993) -
The ground is rock-hard, but you see drag marks.
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And then, after a couple of minutes, it would go rock hard.
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The bottom field's rock hard.
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These potatoes were rock hard when I started.
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I started with rock-hard, no organic matter clay, one of the worst possible starting points.
Blog text (12) -
Even from a distance, his neck looked rock-hard and ruler-straight; his steps were quick and choppy.
Fiction book (2000) -
In his boxing days, Detective Bill Jennings had a flat, rock-hard gut.
Fiction book (2000) -
Far away in the darkness, the sound of hoofbeats echoed on the rock-hard roadbed.
Fiction book (1992) -
Tiosinte's rock hard seeds were barely edible, but it's fibrous husk could be turned into a versatile material.
Synonyms
6
3.9
Very hard and not easy to break
1
4.0
Hard and solid like a rock
1
7.7
Very strong and not easily broken or changed
1
4.3
Very strong and not likely to break or change
1
7.8
Very firm and unwilling to change in attitude or mind
How Hard
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'extremely hard' is directly and transparently built from 'rock' (stone) + 'hard' (firm) as an intensifying adjectival phrase, following the obvious simile 'as hard as a rock'. This compositional pattern (cf. 'stone-hard') is common and cross-linguistically recognizable, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Rock hard comes from a simple picture: the word rock and the word hard make you imagine something as solid as a stone. Think of bread baked until it is like a rock or muscles that feel very firm, and that's why rock hard means 'extremely hard or solid'.