1. hard by - Adverb
2. hard by - Preposition
hard by (not comparable)
(dated) nearby; in close proximity.
hard by
(dated) Close to; near; in proximity to; next to.
He was laid to rest hard by the same church where he was once baptised.
No sooner is a temple built to God, but the Devil builds a chapel hard by. George Herbert
I was starting to see that what looks like garbage from one angle might be art from another. Maybe it did take a crisis to get to know yourself; maybe you needed to get whacked hard by life before you understood what you wanted out of it. Jodi Picoult
Buying a used rental car is kind of like going to a house of ill repute looking for a wife. Anything that's been driven that hard by that many people, you really don't want to put your key in it. Jeff Foxworthy
When Adam and Eve were dispossessed / Of the garden hard by Heaven / They planted another one down in the West / Twas Devon, glorious Devon. Edward German
You know how the church has been hit so hard by the sexual misconduct by clergy, and what's that's done to Catholics, especially here in Boston but elsewhere as well. William P. Leahy
Hard by a river he digs a well. Latin Proverb