Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Hard \Hard\, adv. [OE. harde, AS. hearde.]
   1. With pressure; with urgency; hence, diligently; earnestly.

            And prayed so hard for mercy from the prince.
                                                  --Dryden.

            My father Is hard at study; pray now, rest yourself.
                                                  --Shak.

   2. With difficulty; as, the vehicle moves hard.

   3. Uneasily; vexatiously; slowly. --Shak.

   4. So as to raise difficulties. `` The guestion is hard
      set''. --Sir T. Browne.

   5. With tension or strain of the powers; violently; with
      force; tempestuously; vehemently; vigorously;
      energetically; as, to press, to blow, to rain hard; hence,
      rapidly; as, to run hard.

   6. Close or near.

            Whose house joined hard to the synagogue. --Acts
                                                  xviii.7.

   {Hard by}, {near by}; close at hand; not far off. ``Hard by a
      cottage chimney smokes.'' --Milton.

   {Hard pushed}, {Hard run}, greatly pressed; as, he was hard
      pushed or hard run for time, money, etc. [Colloq.]

   {Hard up}, closely pressed by want or necessity; without
      money or resources; as, hard up for amusements. [Slang]

   Note: Hard in nautical language is often joined to words of
         command to the helmsman, denoting that the order should
         be carried out with the utmost energy, or that the helm
         should be put, in the direction indicated, to the
         extreme limit, as, Hard aport! Hard astarboard! Hard
         alee! Hard aweather up! Hard is also often used in
         composition with a participle; as, hard-baked;
         hard-earned; hard-working; hard-won.

Source : WordNet®

hard up
     adj : not having enough money to pay for necessities [syn: {impecunious},
            {in straitened circumstances(p)}, {penniless}, {penurious},
            {pinched}]