From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhard upˌhard ˈup adjective 1 POORif you are hard up, you do not have much money I’m a bit hard up at the moment.2 not having something that you want or need ‘How about a date with Tom?’ ‘No, thanks, I’m not that hard up.’hard up for The media are obviously hard up for stories.
Examples from the Corpus
hard up• Scott was pretty hard up, so I lent him $20.hard up for• We were so hard up for entertainment we sat outside counting the cars go by.From Longman Business Dictionaryhard upˌhard ˈup adjective informal1not having enough money, especially for a short period of timeWe expected quite a bit of income from the Las Vegas project, but this has been postponed, so we’re financially hard up.2be hard up for something to not have enough of something for a particular period of time, especially workThe media are obviously hard up for stories because they seem interested in this very ordinary case. 