hardiness

English

Etymology

From Middle English hardynesse; equivalent to hardy +‎ -ness.

Noun

hardiness (countable and uncountable, plural hardinesses)

1. The quality of being hardy.
   1. The quality of being able to withstand fatigue and hardship; (of a plant) the quality of being resistant to cold or other environmental conditions.

      Kale is known for its winter-hardiness.

      • 1642, John Milton, An apology against a pamphlet call’d A modest confutation of the animadversions upon the remonstrant against Smectymnuus‎^[1], London: John Rothwell, page 13:

        […] with usefull and generous labours preserving the bodies health, and hardinesse; to render lightsome, cleare, and not lumpish obedience to the minde,

      • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Relates Several Particulars of the Yahoos. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 284:

        But the Houynhnhnms train up their Youth to Strength, Speed, and Hardineſs, by exerciſing them in running Races up and down ſteep Hills, and over hard and ſtony Grounds […]

      • 1915, Nellie McClung, chapter 4, in In Times Like These‎^[2], Toronto: McLeod & Allen:

        Wild wheat is small and hard, quite capable of looking after itself, but its heads contain only a few small kernels. Cultivated wheat has lost its hardiness and its self-reliance, but its heads are filled with large kernels which feed the nation.

   2. (obsolete) The quality of being bold in the face of risk or authority.

      Synonyms: hardihood, audacity, boldness, firmness, assurance

      • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi], page 385, column 2:

        Plentie, and Peace breeds Cowards: Hardneſſe euer / Of Hardineſſe is Mother.

      • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “Book V”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], volume I, part II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC, page 465:

        […] they who were not yet grown to the hardineſs of Avowing the contempt of the King […] would ſooner have been checked, and recovered their Loyalty and Obedience.

      • 1856, John Ruskin, chapter 6, in Modern Painters […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, , § 6:

        […] for every sorrow that his heart turned from, he lost a consolation; for every fear which he dared not confront, he lost a portion of his hardiness; the unsceptred sweep of the storm-clouds, the fair freedom of glancing shower and flickering sunbeam, sank into sweet rectitudes and decent formalisms;

2. (obsolete) Hardship; fatigue.
   • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as “A View of the State of Ireland”, in The Works of Mr. Edmund Spenser, volume VI, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], 1715, →OCLC, page 1577:

     Yet ſure they are very valiant, and hardy, for the moſt part great Indurers of Cold, Labour, Hunger, and all Hardineſs […]

Translations

the quality of being hardy

• Plautdietsch: Hoatlichkjeit f

See also

• foolhardiness
• hardness
• heartiness

 

Anagrams

• shandries