What is "hard and fast"

Hard \Hard\ (h[aum]rd), a. [Compar. Harder (-[~e]r); superl. Hardest.] [OE. hard, heard, AS. heard; akin to OS. & D. hard, G. hart, OHG. herti, harti, Icel. har[eth]r, Dan. haard, Sw. h[*a]rd, Goth. hardus, Gr. kraty`s strong, ka`rtos, kra`tos, strength, and also to E. -ard, as in coward, drunkard, -crat, -cracy in autocrat, democracy; cf. Skr. kratu strength, k[.r] to do, make. Cf. Hardy.]

1. Not easily penetrated, cut, or separated into parts; not yielding to pressure; firm; solid; compact; -- applied to material bodies, and opposed to soft; as, hard wood; hard flesh; a hard apple.

2. Difficult, mentally or judicially; not easily apprehended, decided, or resolved; as a hard problem.

   The hard causes they brought unto Moses.
   --Ex. xviii. 26.

   In which are some things hard to be understood.
   --2 Peter iii. 16.

3. Difficult to accomplish; full of obstacles; laborious; fatiguing; arduous; as, a hard task; a disease hard to cure.

4. Difficult to resist or control; powerful.

   The stag was too hard for the horse.
   --L'Estrange.

   A power which will be always too hard for them.
   --Addison.

5. Difficult to bear or endure; not easy to put up with or consent to; hence, severe; rigorous; oppressive; distressing; unjust; grasping; as, a hard lot; hard times; hard fare; a hard winter; hard conditions or terms.

   I never could drive a hard bargain.
   --Burke.

6. Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.

7. Not easy or agreeable to the taste; harsh; stiff; rigid; ungraceful; repelling; as, a hard style.

   Figures harder than even the marble itself.
   --Dryden.

8. Rough; acid; sour, as liquors; as, hard cider.

9. (Pron.) Abrupt or explosive in utterance; not aspirated, sibilated, or pronounced with a gradual change of the organs from one position to another; -- said of certain consonants, as c in came, and g in go, as distinguished from the same letters in center, general, etc.

10. Wanting softness or smoothness of utterance; harsh; as, a hard tone.

11. (Painting)

    1. Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.

    2. Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in the coloring or light and shade.

       Hard cancer, Hard case, etc. See under Cancer, Case, etc.

       Hard clam, or Hard-shelled clam (Zo["o]l.), the quahog.

       Hard coal, anthracite, as distinguished from bituminous coal ( soft coal).

       Hard and fast. (Naut.) See under Fast.

       Hard finish (Arch.), a smooth finishing coat of hard fine plaster applied to the surface of rough plastering.

       Hard lines, hardship; difficult conditions.

       Hard money, coin or specie, as distinguished from paper money.

       Hard oyster (Zo["o]l.), the northern native oyster. [Local, U. S.]

       Hard pan, the hard stratum of earth lying beneath the soil; hence, figuratively, the firm, substantial, fundamental part or quality of anything; as, the hard pan of character, of a matter in dispute, etc. See Pan.

       Hard rubber. See under Rubber.

       Hard solder. See under Solder.

       Hard water, water, which contains lime or some mineral substance rendering it unfit for washing. See Hardness, 3.

       Hard wood, wood of a solid or hard texture; as walnut, oak, ash, box, and the like, in distinction from pine, poplar, hemlock, etc.

       In hard condition, in excellent condition for racing; having firm muscles; -- said of race horses.

       Syn: Solid; arduous; powerful; trying; unyielding; stubborn; stern; flinty; unfeeling; harsh; difficult; severe; obdurate; rigid. See Solid, and Arduous.

Fast \Fast\, a. [Compar. Faster; superl. Fastest.] [OE., firm, strong, not loose, AS. f[ae]st; akin to OS. fast, D. vast, OHG. fasti, festi, G. fest, Icel. fastr, Sw. & Dan. fast, and perh. to E. fetter. The sense swift comes from the idea of keeping close to what is pursued; a Scandinavian use. Cf. Fast, adv., Fast, v., Avast.]

1. Firmly fixed; closely adhering; made firm; not loose, unstable, or easily moved; immovable; as, to make fast the door.

   There is an order that keeps things fast.
   --Burke.

2. Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.

   Outlaws . . . lurking in woods and fast places.
   --Spenser.

3. Firm in adherence; steadfast; not easily separated or alienated; faithful; as, a fast friend.

4. Permanent; not liable to fade by exposure to air or by washing; durable; lasting; as, fast colors.

5. Tenacious; retentive. [Obs.]

   Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their smells.
   --Bacon.

6. Not easily disturbed or broken; deep; sound.

   All this while in a most fast sleep.
   --Shak.

7. Moving rapidly; quick in mition; rapid; swift; as, a fast horse.

8. Given to pleasure seeking; disregardful of restraint; reckless; wild; dissipated; dissolute; as, a fast man; a fast liver.
   --Thackeray.

9. In such a condition, as to resilience, etc., as to make possible unusual rapidity of play or action; as, a fast racket, or tennis court; a fast track; a fast billiard table, etc.

   Fast and loose, now cohering, now disjoined; inconstant, esp. in the phrases to play at fast and loose, to play fast and loose, to act with giddy or reckless inconstancy or in a tricky manner; to say one thing and do another. ``Play fast and loose with faith.''
   --Shak.

   Fast and loose pulleys (Mach.), two pulleys placed side by side on a revolving shaft, which is driven from another shaft by a band, and arranged to disengage and re["e]ngage the machinery driven thereby. When the machinery is to be stopped, the band is transferred from the pulley fixed to the shaft to the pulley which revolves freely upon it, and vice versa.

   Hard and fast (Naut.), so completely aground as to be immovable.

   To make fast (Naut.), to make secure; to fasten firmly, as a vessel, a rope, or a door.

a. (alternative form of hard-and-fast English)