Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A layer of hard subsoil or clay. Also called caliche.
- n. Hard, unbroken ground.
- n. A foundation; bedrock.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The more or less firmly consolidated detrital material which sometimes underlies a superficial covering of soil. Any bed of mingled clay and sand or pebbles, if firmly compacted, is called
hard-pan . The use of this word appears to be much more common in the United States than in England. - n. Hence Hard, unbroken ground.
- n. The lowest level; lowest foundation; a firm footing for effort or upward progress: as, prices have reached hard-pan.
Wiktionary
- n. A distinct layer of soil that is largely impervious to water.
- n. A dry lake.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. 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. - n. The hard substratum. Same as Hard pan, under hard, a.
WordNet 3.0
- n. crust or layer of hard subsoil encrusted with calcium-carbonate occurring in arid or semiarid regions
Examples
“Caliche is also known as hardpan, calcrete, kankar (in India), or duricrust.”
“Some of the farmers down here tell me confidentially that "hardpan" has been found on their neighbors 'farms, but I have not talked with any one who has any on his own farm.”
The Story of the Soil; from the Basis of Absolute Science and Real Life,
“Among other impediments to water reaching the roots, such as hardpan, soil compaction, soil layering, and low salt, is a condition known as water recession.”
“Caliche is also known as hardpan, calcrete, kankar (in”
“Away across the desert's hardpan horizon the waves of heat rippled, taunting me with a mirage of hope.”
“It ended at a strip of Texas lawn—lace-work of crab grass on hardpan—inside the fence.”
“The predominant natural plant communities are Needlegrass grasslands, and Northern hardpan vernal pools are common.”
“Subsoils contain a layer enriched with lime and/or gypsum, which may develop into a caliche hardpan.”
“The film's settings and characters are standards, familiar representations of the Old West, etched into the hard stone of the landscape: the wide expanses of dusty hardpan, the flat-top mesas and rocky abutments jutting up out of the ground.”
“In the distance, when a vehicle approached from the west, he could dimly see the abandoned drive-in theater and the weed-grown miniature-golf course and the silhouettes of the Cadillac car bodies buried nose-down in the hardpan.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hardpan’.
-
Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 410 more...
-
Some new Wordie words this week
Don't tell them they are not real--they might cry.
glover, breakfront, submaximal, criticality, lanoline, mouthy, botheration, metaphorically, metaphase, disavowal, arum, ostentatiously and 162 more...
-
Way out in the woods
Foresters and loggers have a language all their own.
cruise, landing, chain, peavey, skidder, prescribed burn, shelterwood, clearcut, plantation, silviculture, thinning, weed species and 12 more...
-
In the Desert
arroyo, bajada, semiaridity, playa, mesa, anticline, blowout, hogback, hoodoo, yuccas, creosote bushes, agaves and 23 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hardpan.
reesetee Pomegranate, see discussions of WeirdNet. We've all gone on ad nauseum (and with lots of fun) about the bizarre definitions doled out by WordNet (the greyish text next to words). Dec 4, 2007
pomegranate I disagree with the definition listed for this word. Hardpan is not limited to arid or semiarid regions as anyone who has dealt with forest soil in the American Southeast knows. Hardpan can refer to any subsoil that is substantially more impermeable than the soil above it. Dec 4, 2007