hardscrabble

English [edit]

hardscrabble (comparative more hardscrabble, superlative most hardscrabble)

Of or pertaining to land that takes a lot of work in order to farm and even then is not very productive.
- 1922: Rex Ellingwood Beach, Flowing Gold
  
  In the case of Allegheny Briskow, poverty, the drought, the grinding hardships of these hard-scrabble Texas counties, had dwarfed the intellect, the very soul of a splendid young animal.