Definition of "hard-handed" [hard•-hand•ed]

• Having hands calloused or hardened by work. (adjective)
• Oppressive; tyrannical. (adjective)

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.

• "Being hyper-critical, he's probably still a bit of a hard-handed, away-from-body prodder in the corridor for Tests, but he's arguably the purest and most exhilirating shotmaker and, anyway, Colly has played 68 games with myriad technical 'flaws'."
• "Iranian authorities sent police into the streets of the capital Monday to crack down on informal currency trading and support the rial, signaling Iranians' heightened insecurity over their dwindling buying power and Tehran's increasingly hard-handed efforts to stave off economic panic."
• "The officers were from the a military intelligence and security service (MIVD) cell and carried out "hard-handed tactical interrogations"."