having very little money, especially for a short period of time
Example:
- They’re not really as hard up as they say they are.
- I was so hard up I couldn't afford the price of a cup of coffee.
having nothing interesting to do, talk about, etc.
Example:
- ‘You could always go out with Steve.’ ‘I'm not that hard up!’
- The newspapers must be hard up for news if they’ve got to publish stories like that (= they must have very little real news).