Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) a general term of approval, serious, experienced, committed, full-time; the implication is that the word, act or person thus qualified is the ultimate of the type.

1968		N. von Hoffman We are the People Our Parents Warned Us Against 155: All of these young men [...] are what the FBI like to call ‘hard-core cases,’ people whose confessional politics have become a way of life.
1973		R. Daley Target Blue 390: [A] grocery store that was a ‘hard core’ gambling location at 518 West 159th Street.
1974		P. Gent North Dallas Forty 139: He’s a hard-core football groupie.
1979		H. Feldman et al. Angel Dust 165: Those individuals who became involved with the intravenous administration of drugs were the ‘hard core’ members.
1988		Ice-T ‘Radio Suckers’ 🎵 Hard core radical rap rhyme writer.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 62: You fucking SEALS are fucking hard-core.
2000		Guardian Weekend 29 Jan. 15: They are fuckin’ hardcore rock’n’roll women.
2007		L. de Moraes Wash. Post Co 1: ‘That’s some rough girls from Rutgers,’ Imus said [...] ‘Some hard-core hos,’ McGuirk chimed in.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] ‘Panadol [...] doesn’t sound hardcore but that shit’s toxic’.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 168: ‘You’re Jewish, right?’ [...] ‘I grew up Orthodox. Hard-core’.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 114: She was definitely fuckable. She had a nice face. And she was hard-core. One of God’s diamonds.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 110: He had been in and out of jail on some pretty hard-core charges.

2. pertaining to the more extreme forms of pornography; cite 2001 refers to sexually explicit rap music lyrics.

1966		R.H. Rimmer Harrad Experiment 233: Some of us felt that all censorship could be eliminated [...] that hard-core pornography would be laughed at.
1975		N.Y. Post 29 Nov. 14: That breakthrough film which uses hard-core sex as a dramatic expression of meaningful human relationships has yet to be made.
1987		in Delacoste & Alexander Sex Work (1988) 104: I got an opportunity to learn some of the craft by filming hard core pornos.
1998		C. Fleming High Concept 106: She would not continue in the world of hardcore films and videos.
2001		L.A. Times (CA) 19 June 53/1: Several governments [...] have discussed banning air-play of hard-core rap-style reggae [...] known variously as Jamaican dancehall or DJ.
2003		A.N. LeBlanc Random Family 52: He also liked to act out scenarios from hard-core films.
2006		M. Orford Like Clockwork 136: Those were only soft core. There is hard core, girls’ only flieks.
2011		City Press (SA) 12 May 🌐 SA set for 24-hour porn channel [...] which offers hardcore pornography.

3. aggressive, criminal.

1976		R. Daley To Kill a Cop 138: ‘In a real hard-core incident the cop would have to protect both himself and her [i.e. a female officer],’ said Marty.
1995		L. Stavsky et al. A2Z.
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 69: We had to fight to get a gang unit in here. A lot of people don’t believe there is such a thing as a hard-core female.
2001		Guardian G2 29 Jan. 3: The prison was well known in the system for holding mainly ‘hardcore’ offenders.
2006		C. Hiaasen Nature Girl 131: Sometimes the Indian acted hard-core, sometimes just the opposite.
2016		A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 163: ‘I thought he was putting on a show, acting all hardcore’.
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] [H]ard-core, sordid South Central shit. Rooms by the hour to fuck and use in.

4. substantial in quantity.

1992		in R. Graef Living Dangerously 179: I’ll be doing it [i.e. stealing] again soon if I don’t get some hardcore money.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 hardcore adj 1. extremely, many, much. (‘She’s making hardcore money at her new job.’).

5. (US teen) true to what you believe.

1993–2003

Urban Dict. 🌐 hardcore 1) Can act as a modifier for a word or phrase, making it more severe. 2) When used alone, used to denote something noteworthy, like saying ‘awesome’ or ‘rad’. 1) That was hardcore wicked, man. 2) Hardcore, bro. Hardcore.

6. (US campus) of a test or examination, difficult.

2001

Eble Campus Sl. Fall 5: HARDCORE – Difficult: ‘That test was HARDCORE.’.

7. (US) adamant, uncompromising.

2008		‘Grandmaster Flash’ Adventures 25: Violet and Carmetta had become Jehovah's Witnesses. They found a home at the Kingdom Hall and were hardcore in their beliefs.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 50: I didn’t even tell my wife. Mr. Teabull, he was hard-core about that [...] ‘Don’t say a word about what happened’.