subs. phr. (American).—The lowest point; BED-ROCK (q.v.).
1882. BESANT, All Sorts and Conditions of Men, ch. xxi. And as for business, it’s got down to the HARD PAN, and dollars are skurce.
1861. O. W. HOLMES, Elsie Venner, ch. viii. Mr. Silas Peckham had gone a little deeper than he meant, and came upon the HARD-PAN, as the well-diggers call it, of the Colonel’s character, before he thought of it.
1888. Missouri Republican, 2 March. Prices were at HARD-PAN.
TO GET DOWN TO HARD-PAN, verb. phr. (American).—1. To buckle to; to get to business.
