hard up

Universal Words adjective (informal) 1 having very little money, especially for a short period of time: hard up students * They're not really as hard up as they say they are. 2 ~ (for sth) lacking in sth interesting to do, talk about, etc: 'You could always go out with Steve.' 'I'm not that hard up!' * The newspapers must be hard up for news if they've got to publish stories like that (= they must have very little real news).