hardboiled


hard-boiled

1. Literally, having reached a solid state through boiling, as of eggs. Mom is making hard-boiled eggs for breakfast.2. Tough and dispassionate; hardened by experience. My brother, the hard-boiled police officer, becomes a gushing fool if you ask him about his baby daughter.

hardboiled

mod. tough; heartless. Do you have to act so hardboiled?