hard-drawn

• “And then sounded the clangor of strife and the hard-drawn panting of combat.”

  People of the Dark

• “That fearful battle was fought in silence save for the hissing of hard-drawn breath.”

  People of the Dark

• “Through a blur of stinging sweat, Strongfist could see the bodies of his companions strewn along the riverside like flotsam; and each hard-drawn breath sucked the stench of the slaughterhouse into his lungs.”

  The Falcons of Montabard

• “The hard-drawn breath signalled stiffness and pain, but nothing mortal.”

  One Corpse Too Many

• “It seemed somehow to Dinney as though a sweet peace filled the room now that his mother's hard-drawn breath was no longer there.”

  Gloria and Treeless Street

• “Long they fought, and fiercely, till the breath came hard-drawn and short, and the red blood ran fast from both combatants.”

  Stories of the Border Marches

• “In the suspension bridge iron or steel can be used in its strongest form, namely hard-drawn wire.”

  Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria"

• “For a moment he held her so, staring down, at her, his breath hard-drawn between his teeth; then swiftly, with a stifled exclamation he stooped his head, kissing her savagely, bruising, crushing her lips beneath his own.”

  The Splendid Folly

• “Once, twice she heard the sound of a man's hard-drawn sob, and the dry agony of it wrung her heart.”

  The Lamp of Fate

• “The hiccoughs were definitely sobs, hard-drawn, shaking him from head to foot.”

  The Dark House

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