hard-on n.
1. (also hardie) an erection.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘A Roue’s Apology’ Rakish Rhymer (1917) 145: If I have said or done too much, / I humbly beg your pardon; / The magic of your thrilling touch / Has given me a hard-on. [Ibid.] Parody 146: Bless me, you’ve a hard-on—sparking Sunday night [...] Old Reuben’s head is bobbing high up to your vest. | |
| Sl. and Its Analogues. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Memoirs of Madge Buford 91: ‘Bathe this hard-on in cold water, I want to keep it for [this] afternoon’. | |
| Transcript Dunn Inquiry in Perverts by Official Order (1989) 23: He was very much put out [...] because I could not get a hard on. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Ulysses 505: (He bares his arm and plunges it elbowdeep in Bloom’s vulva.) There’s fine depth for you! What, boys? That give you a hardon? | |
| (con. 1900s–10s) 42nd Parallel in USA (1966) 315: He got a hardon and couldn’t sleep and was worried for fear the girls would notice. | |
| in Limerick (1953) 124: One morning Mahatma Gandhi / Had a hard-on, and it was a dandy. | |
| On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 141: Neal [...] was screwing the maid in the bedroom. Neal ran downstairs to answer the door with a hardon. | |
| Naked Lunch (1968) 95: The Blast [...] wakes the Spanish pimp with a hard-on. | |
| Howard Street 121: ‘He couldn’t get a hard-on,’ she said shortly. | |
| Plender [ebook] But the next time you got a hard on it was always straight to the toilet for a quick one off the wrist. | |
| Semi-Tough 207: She said she had a top scorer in the NBA there with her right then and we ought to see the hard-on she was looking at. | |
| Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 8: Say your hard on’s taking a small holiday this year. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Share House Blues 120: ‘Marcus said I’m an arrogant, lecherous young bastard, with a permanent hard-on’. | |
| Homeboy 74: Half these guys had hardons in various stages of tumescence. | |
| The Joy (2015) [ebook] The comment about the hard-on is playing on me mind. | |
| (con. 1964-65) Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 21: [A] hard-on that Superman couldn’t have bent. | |
| Guardian G2 19 Nov. 6: He wanted to fuck her but he didn’t have a hard-on. | |
| Blow Fly (2004) 46: You got a damn hard-on [...] a stiff dick! | |
| Peepshow [ebook] I loved the way he held my face when he kissed me [...] and how it gave him an instant hard-on. | |
| Truth 165: You now stick out like a hardie in the convent showers. | |
| (con. 1973) Johnny Porno 107: You’ll give me a hard-on and then I’ll be late. | |
| Thrill City [ebook] I got him to rub Hawaiian Tripoic on my back [...] I think he got a hard-on. | |
| Bad Sex on Speed 75: He opens the door and she sees his raging hard-on. | |
| Glorious Heresies 64: [H]er dainty bone-fingers climbing up his leg to see if they could charm a hard-on. |
2. passionate, lustful feelings.
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| ‘The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing’ in Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 147: The whorehouse bells were ringing, / And the pimp stood in the door; / He’d a hard on all day long / To screw some dirty whore. | |
| (con. 1960s) Black Gangster (1991) 95: We can’t stay in hidin’ just because the fuckin’ man’s got a hard on. | |
| Brown’s Requiem 33: He was probably just a nice old fart with a hard-on for a beautiful young cellist. | |
| Empty Wigs (t/s) 503: War criminals’ graves really gave her a hard-on. |
3. an obsession, usu. hostile, aggressive feelings towards.
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| (con. 1920s–30s) Youngblood (1956) 412: That cracker sure is got a hard-on for you. | |
| Cool Hand Luke (1967) 129: Boss Godfrey didn’t have such a hard-on for Luke anymore. | |
| Friends of Eddie Coyle 27: He’s got to figure I got a hard-on for the Panthers. | |
| Hooligans (2003) 17: You got a hard-on for the Feds? | |
| Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 291: Some Deep South ofay with a hard-on for blacks. | |
| Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] They’d both got giant hard ons [...] n and raced down to the real estate agency where they questioned the flustered woman behind the counter. | |
| Stalker (2001) 376: Bederman has a hard-on for you, you know. And I don’t mean the sexual kind. | |
| Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 94: Why such a hard-on for Frankie Machine ? [...] Why did we even want him gone? | |
| Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 14: You want Bobby fucking Kennedy in the White House? Guy’s got a hard-on for us you could cut glass with. | |
| The Force [ebook] ‘You want to get IAB up our ass?! [...] Give Sykes more of a hard-on for you than he already has?’. | |
| (con. 1962) Enchanters 266: I don’t want to see [...] the Hats get nailed for sinking that guy — despite Miller Leavy’s hard-on to slam them. |
4. (US) a bad temper, irrespective of gender.
| (con. 1949) True Confessions (1979) 256: I’m sorry I thought his name was Chuckie Quinn, if that’s what’s giving you the hard-on. |
5. (US) used as a term of address, usu. sarcastic and referring to someone’s high self-esteem.
| letter 19 June in Charters II (1999) 135: I’m still with you, hardon! | |
| Rockabilly (1963) 95: I’ll tell you why, you little hardon. | |
| Running Dog (1992) 205: Dipshit. You hard-on. |
6. (US) a despicable individual, a tough, aggressive person.
| Portnoy’s Complaint 119: You mean, miserable hard-on you. | |
| (con. 1969) Dispatches 130: Oh come on, Day Tripper, don’t be a hard-on. | |
| (con. 1950s) in Damon Runyon (1992) 403: Don’t be a hard-on [...] I don’t want no hard-ons in my outfit. | |
| Guardian Weekend 25 Sept. 24: We [...] shrivelled a hard-on with simply a menacing look. | |
| Londonstani (2007) 223: You’re not just another one of those rudeboy hard-ons that you hang around with. | |
| Money Shot [ebook] ‘One of those young hard-ons that caught your case’. | |
| (con. 1973) Johnny Porno 66: That cop is a last of the Mohican hard-ons. |
7. in fig. use, positive feelings.
| Getting Straight 11: You think it’s God, but it’s just a hard-on. | |
| Union Dues (1978) 282: You can’t hide that hard-on you’ve got for the cameras. | |
| (con. 1969–70) F.N.G. (1988) 176: Walking point is the hardon. It means you’re the first out there, that there is nobody else to rely on. | |
| Love Is a Racket 56: I didn’t have dollar one down, and I could feel myself getting a hard-on for this race. |
8. (US) a difficult task.
| A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 109: The screws had a hard-on to find the phantom bomber. |
In phrases
see under die v.
1. to have an erection.
| in Letter from My Father (1978) 189: When we got a girl in a corner [we] would get a ‘hard’ on the minute we kissed them. | |
| (con. 1960s) Blood Brothers 180: I’ll show you something funny, if you promise not to get a hard on, you dirty old man. | |
| Birthday 92: I saw this smashing young woman in my mirror, and got a hard on. |
2. (US Und.) to draw a pistol.
| Big Con 201: I always get a hard-on [reach for a pistol] when I see a rat. |
3. to desire someone.
| in Sweet Daddy 118: They go getting a hard on for you and trying to queer you. |
to dislike (intensely); to obsess about.
| S.R.O. (1998) 278: ‘I get the impression you’ve got a pretty stiff hard on for the whole world this morning’. | |
| Double Whammy (1990) 63: Everybody knows Dennis has a hard-on for Dickie Lockhart [...] and he’s damn careful with Dennis around. | |
| Crosskill [ebook] [H]e couldn’t hit the Mesics while the Outfit still had a hard-on for him. | |
| Whiplash River [ebook] ‘I know you’ve still got a major, major hard-on for the Armenians, even after you were explicitly told to cool it’. | |
| Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘I don’t know whether you’ve seen too many spy movies or just have a hard-on for old noir’. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] If I know Cameron Sinclair, he’ll have a bloody great hard-on for all of us now. |
(US) of the penis, erect.
| Word Is Bone [ebook] ‘Don’t try to negotiate, Spanky.’ She laughed. ‘Not when you on hard’. |