hardscrabble

adj

Etymology: From hard + scrabble.

1. Requiring much work to farm, and ultimately not very productive.

   “his hardscrabble peanut farm”

   “In the case of Allegheny Briskow, poverty, the drought, the grinding hardships of these hard-scrabble Texas counties, had dwarfed the intellect, the very soul of a splendid young animal.”

2. Involving hard work and struggle.

   “He leads a hardscrabble existence.”

   “Being the savage’s bowsman, that is, the person who pulled the bow-oar in his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend upon him while taking that hard-scrabble scramble upon the dead whale’s back.”