hardtack

[hahrd-tak] /ˈhɑrdˌtæk/

noun

a hard, saltless biscuit, formerly much used aboard ships and for army rations.

Also called pilot biscuit, pilot bread, ship biscuit, ship bread.

Origin

1830-40; hard + tack²

Examples from the web for hardtack

If it was too wet to light a fire, they had to subsist on hardtack biscuits and cold sowbelly doused in vinegar.
The sweet alcoholic potion revived their spirits, and the chewy hardtack gave sustenance.
These foods provided a welcome relief from the usual salt meat, canned goods and hardtack.
Cornmeal mush was served at breakfast and each were provided a dried meat and hardtack lunch ration.
hardtack was selling for a dollar apiece-if you could find a seller.
Soldiers erected small evergreen trees strung with hardtack and pork.
There was no wood to make a fire to warm ourselves by or to make coffee, nothing to eat but hardtack.
hardtack seemed to them a priceless treasure, and one could buy anything they had.

British Dictionary definitions for hardtack

/ˈhɑːdˌtæk/

noun

a kind of hard saltless biscuit, formerly eaten esp by sailors as a staple aboard ship Also called pilot biscuit, ship's biscuit, sea biscuit

Word Origin and History for hardtack

1836, "ship's biscuit," from hard (adj.) + tack (n.3); soft-tack was soft wheaten bread.