Definition of "hard case" []

• A tough, unsentimental person. (noun)
• A person who is persistently insolent or difficult to control. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Squish-Squash was in special education -a sloppy beast of a boy with a hard case of autism."
• "'im ef she had made her peace, and he' lowed she had, entirely, that she wuz jest a-lyin 'thar shoutin' Glory ever 'breath she drawed, an' that they all wuz glad to see her reconciled, fer you know she wuz a hard case speritually."