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hard-by

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An archaic phrase meaning close by, near at hand, or adjacent to a location, often used in classic verse to establish spatial setting.

Detailed Definition
Hardy uses this old adverb to indicate that the apple trees stand close to the house or garden. The hyphenated form is literary and uncommon in present-day English.
Example
Example in poetry:
“To overtop the apple trees hard-by” means nearby or close at hand; “A brook ran hard-by the cottage door” gives the archaic adverb a pastoral placement; Wordsworthian landscapes often favor such compact location words; “Hard-by the station, one stubborn lilac bloomed” tests the old term in a contemporary setting
Additional Notes
The quoted expression is an old-fashioned adverbial form whose meaning may not be immediately clear to modern readers.; Found in the poem, Domicilium by Thomas Hardy
Also Known As
nearby adjacent close at hand proximate
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