hardhack

American  

[hahrd-hak] / ˈhɑrdˌhæk /

noun

1. a woolly-leaved North American shrub, Spiraea tomentosa, of the rose family, having short, spikelike clusters of rose-colored flowers.

2. shrubby cinquefoil.

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hardhack British  

/ ˈhɑːdˌhæk /

noun

1. Also called: steeplebush.  a woody North American rosaceous plant, Spiraea tomentosa, with downy leaves and tapering clusters of small pink or white flowers

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Etymology

Origin of hardhack

An Americanism dating back to 1805–15; hard + hack ¹

Example Sentences

Now it is a veritable mixing pat for the autumn colors to come, yellow with goldenrod, blue with asters, purple with Joe-Pye weed, rosy because of the hardhack, and rimmed with delicate gray-white of thoroughwort.

From Old Plymouth Trails by Packard, Winthrop

Should a diarrhœa attend the malady, give an occasional drink of hardhack tea.

From The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by Dadd, George

When she came to a lonely place in the road, when she was walking between stone-walls overgrown with poison-ivy, and meadowsweet, and hardhack, and golden-rod, she opened the letter.

From By the Light of the Soul A Novel by Brett, Harold M.

Some of the time he could hardly see the narrow sidewalk path between the dusty meadowsweet and hardhack bushes, since those floating black threads wove together into a veritable veil before him.

From The Copy-Cat and Other Stories by Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins

The lithe red fox glides across the upper pastures and weaves among the hardhack unchallenged, for this is not hunting weather.

From Minstrel Weather by Storm, Marian