v. t. To hearten; to encourage; to incite. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Hardened p. pr. & vb. n. Hardening ] [ OE. hardnen, hardenen. ] 1. To make hard or harder; to make firm or compact; to indurate; as, to harden clay or iron. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To accustom by labor or suffering to endure with constancy; to strengthen; to stiffen; to inure; also, to confirm in wickedness or shame; to make unimpressionable. “Harden not your heart.” Ps. xcv. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

I would harden myself in sorrow. Job vi. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To become hard or harder; to acquire solidity, or more compactness; as, mortar hardens by drying. [ 1913 Webster ]

The deliberate judgment of those who knew him [ A. Lincoln ] has hardened into tradition. The Century. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To become confirmed or strengthened, in either a good or a bad sense. [ 1913 Webster ]

They, hardened more by what might most reclaim. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A small genus of Australian woody vines with small violet flowers; closely related to genus Kennedia.
Syn. -- genus Hardenbergia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Made hard, or harder, or compact; made unfeeling or callous; made obstinate or obdurate; confirmed in error or vice.

2. Rendered resistant to the effects of nearby explosions; as, a hardened missile silo; hardened warhead electronics. [ PJC ]

3. Experienced and inured to hardship; as, hardened combat troops. [ PJC ]

4. Strongly habituated to a certain type of behavior, and unlikely to change; as, a hardened criminal. Usually used only of behavior perceived negatively. [ PJC ]

Syn. -- Impenetrable; hard; obdurate; callous; unfeeling; unsusceptible; insensible. See Obdurate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, hardens; specif., one who tempers tools. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Making hard or harder. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which hardens, as a material used for converting the surface of iron into steel. [ 1913 Webster ]