Harden — Defs

01 v. t. To make hard or harder; to make firm or compact; to indurate; as, to harden clay or iron.

imp. & p. p. Hardened; p. pr. & vb. n. Hardening

1.
To make hard or harder; to make firm or compact; to indurate; as, to harden clay or iron.
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.
“I would harden myself in sorrow.” — Job vi. 10.

02 v. i. To become hard or harder; to acquire solidity, or more compactness; as, mortar hardens by drying.

1.
To become hard or harder; to acquire solidity, or more compactness; as, mortar hardens by drying.
“The deliberate judgment of those who knew him [A. Lincoln] has hardened into tradition.” — The Century.
2.
To become confirmed or strengthened, in either a good or a bad sense.
“They, hardened more by what might most reclaim.” — Milton.