hard by

hard by

1. (dated) Close to; near; in proximity to; next to.

   He was laid to rest hard by the same church where he was once baptised.

   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV scene i:

     He attendeth here hard by, / To know your answer, whether you'll admit him.

   • 1698, Ned Ward, The London Spy:

     After we had dispatched our compliments to each other, and I had awkwardly returned in country scrapes his a la mode bows and cringes, he needs must prevail with me to join him at a tavern hard by and dine with some gentlemen of his acquaintance.

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 557:

     So I took a great dry gourd and, cutting open the head, scooped out the inside and cleaned it; after which I gathered grapes from a vine which grew hard by and squeezed them into the gourd, till it was full of the juice. Then I stopped up the mouth and set in the sun, where I left it for some days, until it became strong wine; and every day I used to drink of it, to comfort and sustain me under my fatigues with that from froward and obstinate fiend; and as often as I drank myself drunk, I forgot my troubles and took new heart.

   • 1964, Philip K. Dick, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch:

     In a bar hard by P. P. Layouts, Richard Hnatt sat sipping a Tequila Sour.