Härd'ness, n.

n. [Eng. hard; A-S. heardness.] 1. The quality or state of being hard, in any sense of the word; solidity; difficulty of comprehension, accomplishment, control, or endurance; harshness; obduracy; also, want of minute attention to the feelings of others; insensibility. The habit of authority also had given his manners some peremptory hardness. W. Scott. 2. (Min.) The adhesion of particles determined by the capacity of a mineral to scratch another, or be itself scratched, and referred to a scale which has the diamond at one extreme, and common talc at the other.