Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a native of Oregon.

1866		Amer. Citizen (Butler, PA) 26 Sept. 2/4: Nicknames [...] Oregon, hard cases.
1871		Cairo Dly Bulletin (IL) 2 Dec. 2/4: Queer are the nicknames of the different states [...] Oregon, hard case.
1885		North Amer. Rev. Nov. 433: Among the rank and file, both armies, it was very general to speak of the different States they came from by their slang names. Those from Maine were called Foxes; [...] Missouri, Pukes; Mississippi, Tad Poles; Florida, Fly up the Creeks; Wisconsin, Badgers; Iowa, Hawkeyes; Oregon, Hard Cases.

2. (orig. US) a tough, ruthless person.

1847		W.T. Porter Quarter Race in Kentucky and Other Sketches 38: In dispute between one Lot Corson and a ‘hard case’ called Emanuel Allen.
1865		G.A. Sala My Diary in America I 92: Mr. Clark doesn’t like rowdies; he abhors loafers; he has set his face against ‘hard cases’.
1876		‘The Days of ’49’ in Lingenfelter et al. Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 559: There was North Carolina Jess, a hard old case / Who never would repent.
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 25 Dec. 9: [pic. caption] A Young Lady of Joking Propensities [...] Feigns Death in a Chair which had been Occupied by a Celebrated Female Hard Case.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Sept. 6/3: Nine-fingered Mick was a hard case, one of the roughest of a rough lot of exiles, whom a maternal Government located in the vicinity of Maitland, some years ago.
1894		H. Lawson ‘Baldy Thompson’ in Roderick (1972) 108: He was generally voted a hard case, which term is mostly used in a kindly sense out back.
1901		J. Flynt World of Graft 167: The jury will railroad you on general principles, in spite of the evidence [...] because you’re known to be a hard case.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Aug. Red Page/3: [A] little solitary confinement is useful to the young offender - useless to the ‘hard case’.
1911		J. Lomax Cowboy Songs 9: My comrades they all loved me well, / The jolly saucy crew; / A few hard cases, I will admit, / Though they were brave and true.
1916		Sun. Times (Perth) 25 June 6s/7: You see where a hard-case from the wheat belt has kidded an insanitary son of the soil.
1919		‘Sax Rohmer’ Dope 268: ‘H’m, you’re a hard case,’ said the Chief Inspector. ‘A couple of witnesses like you and the jury would retire to Bedlam!’.
1931		O. Strange Law O’ The Lariat 225: As I told yu, the fella’s a hard case.
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 46: It may have been his soft blue eyes that induced the authorities to segregate [him] from the Moor ‘hard cases’.
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 145: Ain’t she a bloody old hardcase?
1956		B. Behan Quare Fellow (1960) Act II: Don’t be such a bloody big baby. We all know you’re a hard case.
1962		A. La Guma Walk in the Night (1968) 18: Man, that john was a bastard of a hardcase.
1973		B.S. Johnson All Bull 217: All the hard cases were apparently either Scot or Scouse.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 121: These hard cases had gotten the drop on him.
1993		G. Disher Deathdeal [ebook] ‘I used to run with some hard cases when I was young’.
1994		D. Lehane A Drink Before the War 13: A woman who’d pumped two rounds into a hard case named Bobby Royce.
2002		J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 207: Narducci, a real hard case doing Life on the Installment Plan.

3. (Aus./N.Z.) a cheeky or amusing person.

1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: hard case. An inveterate humorist, one who defies convention and etiquette.
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 89: One day one of his mates at work, a bit of a hard case, said: ‘What are you worrying about? You’ve got plenty of money: why don’t you employ someone to do your worrying for you?’.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 55/1: hard case resolute, independent, wild, amusing or sexually available.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

4. (Aus./N.Z.) a sexually available woman.

1958		F.J. Hardy Four-Legged Lottery 187: Jim was accompanied by a woman, an attractive ‘hard case’ whom Julia instantly disliked.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 55/1: hard case resolute, independent, wild, amusing or sexually available.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

5. (Aus.) an indefatigable person, who struggles on irrespective of any obstacle.

1929		K.S. Prichard Coonardoo 300: You know Monty, damned old hard case, one of the hardest doers in the Nor’-West.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 55/1: hard case resolute, independent, wild, amusing or sexually available.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 191: The ability to persevere and to battle on against all adversities is a much-admired Australian characteristic reflected in terms like a hard case, a hard doer and hardnose for those who can both deal it out and take it.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

6. an incorrigible hedonist.

1925

N. Lucas Autobiog. of a Thief 27: Many of these men [...] were what might be called hard cases, and habitually consumed enough liquor in the course of an evening to render the average landlubber insensible.