| 释义 |
Definition of tough in English: toughadjective tʌftəf 1(of a substance or object) strong enough to withstand adverse conditions or rough handling. tough rucksacks for climbers Example sentencesExamples - The Aldgate train was the standard London model, built of a tough steel frame upon which aluminium bodywork is bolted firmly down.
- The handle is made of G-l0, a tough material favored by tactical knife makers.
- All of the following clothes are made up of a tough material which should be strong against almost all elements of magic.
- Polycarbonate is a tough material but not hard.
- Occasionally someone would get hit in the foot or leg, but school shoe leather was tough and the last thing you'd do was report any mishaps.
- This is moisture resistant and forms a tough coating which can be washed with soap and water.
- Stainless steel is a tough metal and does not rust, but it's harder to sharpen.
- This bouncy rubber was surprisingly tough stuff.
- They are tough enough to withstand being walked on occasionally and will reward the passer-by with perfume released from the crushed foliage.
- In early 1943 two American professors discovered that a very tough material could be produced by adding a small amount of wood pulp to water before freezing.
- If you have ever polished some hard, tough material like metal or marble you know how much energy it takes.
- The balls used in boccia are mainly made of tough leather and filled with a grain-like substance.
- He knows just how to make tight leggings, rough, tough leathers and plush cashmere absolutely dazzling.
- Wax is a tough moisture barrier, doesn't rot wood or synthetic stocks, and doesn't attract dirt.
- The ground began shacking with such great force, not even the lifeless roots obscured in the grey soil were tough enough to hold up their dying masters.
- African rice is tough enough to fight drought, but many west African farmers abandoned the variety in favour of Asian strains that produce more grains per plant.
- But cement is exceptionally tough and not very porous and its use at Fountains has essentially reversed this process.
- Bags are sent wrapped in tissue, wrapped in recycled plastic, then sealed into a recyclable tough paper mailer bag.
- Wood is a tough material that lasts a long time and is easy to repair.
- I've sliced them in half, cut away the tough fibres, drizzled them with olive oil, and grilled them.
Synonyms durable, strong, resilient, resistant, sturdy, rugged, firm, solid, substantial, sound, stout, indestructible, unbreakable, hard, rigid, stiff, inflexible, toughened hard-wearing, long-lasting, heavy-duty, well built, made to last - 1.1 (of food, especially meat) difficult to cut or chew.
the hastily prepared steak was tough Example sentencesExamples - Most of them are sipping coffee, or reading newspapers, or chewing morosely on tough bread.
- Move those cows too fast and you end up with very fit, very lean, very tough sirloin.
- One or two are so contorted that poor old Lawson, who is a consummate professional, looks like he has been compelled to chew on a tough piece of sirloin and then spit it out in public.
- She chewed on the cooked piece of tough meat that had been in the saddlebag, not pausing to wonder how it had gotten there.
- It's best to keep the stems out of most dishes, since all but the newest growth is too tough to chew.
- Duck legs have fairly tough meat - the legs are worked hard during their lifespan, making the flesh taut and muscly.
- I tried a small pastie that looked safe, but the meat inside was so tough I had to swallow it nearly whole after chewing for a couple of minutes.
- Hominids had teeth that resembled those of pigs and bears, which can chew tough, fiber-rich food.
- The meat is still tough and not as palatable as typical American cuisine, but it's also not that bad.
- The lamb cutlet was also tough: though served quite rare, it was uncuttable, unchewable and tasteless.
- The meat was a little tough, but the flavour, infused with lemon, was delicious, a light meat somewhere between lamb and beef.
- I have a headache, and all I've had to chew on are these infernal, tough pieces of salt meat.
- She says it was slippery and she could not cut it with a knife. She took it in her hand and placed it in her mouth, but the ‘meat’ was so tough she could not bite through it.
- I've been grazing among the blogs and chewing that question like a tough mouthful of cud.
- I got used to drinking powdered milk, living off rice and kidney beans, occasionally a bit of tough meat in a stew as a treat.
- Recipes from regions where tough meat is the norm often call for a marinade made with fruit or juice.
- The fruit is tough and prickly on the outside, tender and sweet on the inside.
- The pigs' apprehension about being eaten results in tough meat, which is why pork no longer tastes good.
- Rabbits, horses, and elephants chew tough grasses, leaves, and plants.
- The man brought dry cheese, more water, and a hunk of tough meat that tasted more than a little rancid.
Synonyms chewy, leathery, gristly, stringy, fibrous, sinewy, cartilaginous
2Able to endure hardship or pain. she was as tough as old boots Example sentencesExamples - Finally there is the underlying truth that Carol is as tough as old boots, and frankly, as sexy as a Sherman tank.
- And, you know, he was a tough priest who was sympathetic, but you know, I think he was used to tragedy.
- Another point I make in About Face was that I had learned about war from tough old sergeants and captains who had fought the big war.
- It then turned out that my grandad is as tough as old boots, and probably just wanted to take attention away from me getting a job.
- I am, in fact, either as tough as old boots, or as soft as a particularly fluffy bunny, depending on who you ask, and when.
- Though you look delicate you are tough as nails and prone to intricacies…
- To be fair to him, he's as tough as old boots and he just galloped to the line.
- Many of them have led hard lives already, and they are tough, angry and unforgiving.
- Cosmopolitans, not tough pioneers, they lacked the grit required to face the hardships of frontier life.
- ‘Reg is a real fighter by nature, he is as tough as old boots and will not give in,’ said Linn.
- However, the tough Belgian was able to recover enough to catch the pack and hand with the grupetto on the final climb.
- It was strange because in contrast my Nan was as tough as old boots; she just had a tendency to say insane things.
- Football's about tough uncompromising individuals, who bleed real blood, take no prisoners and fight to the very end, yeah?
- He's a tough old bastard, and he's pulled through things like this before.
- Happily, Russian skaters tend to be tough as old boots.
- She may be tough and indifferent on the outside but I could see that deep inside she was experiencing tremendous pain and sorrow.
- To have to go through that family scandal and still be a sweet, genuine person - how tough she was to endure that.
- They are a tough, resilient and uncomplaining people (as I saw first hand in the casualty areas in 1974).
- He was strong and brave, a happy-go-lucky person but also tough and able to live on his own.
- But Duncan came from the generation before the welfare state, when to survive at all you had to be as tough as old boots - and he was.
Synonyms resilient, strong, hardy, gritty, determined, resolute, dogged, stalwart rugged, fit, robust, powerful, red-blooded, doughty hardened, cynical, hard-bitten informal hard, (as) tough as old boots - 2.1 Having the confidence and determination to cope in difficult situations.
he liked editors who were tough enough to make the grade Example sentencesExamples - She is young and tough, the servants respect her, and everything is in impeccable order.
- In any case, with Beeching reluctant to play the game and with Marples determined to be tough, it was difficult to predict which lines would be spared in advance.
- Maybe with the emergence of young, tough defenders such as Chris Gbandi that will change.
- Lincou is a muscular, tough player who likes to occupy the center of the court, causing his opponents to run around him.
- Unwilling Accomplice is the story of two violent criminals on the run and the tough young woman who outwits them.
- Brees is smart, tough and had the confidence of his teammates after leading them to 20 wins over the last two years.
- I saw the older men trying to demonstrate they were still tough and able.
- He is smart, tough and instinctual, but a lack of speed hurts him in coverage.
- Clarence Moore fills various roles, from perimeter shooter to tough defender to solid rebounder.
- A track for tough cars and tough drivers, it tests every component and every sinew to the limit and few pass with flying colours.
- Driver 2 is equally tough, but at least this time the missions aren't impossibly hard from the very outset.
- The girls were very tough and demonstrated their excellent skills and the only fair decision after three great rounds was a draw.
- Meanwhile, co-star Jolie is perfectly suited as the tough, intelligent young lady who can pierce anybody with a silent stare.
- Brunson is a tough defender and solid passer, attributes coach Bill Cartwright seeks.
- He then fought and won a hard match with the tough Mr. D. to take back his crown.
- Despite losing his round to an older competitor the tough tot's family said he would not be deterred.
- Braham is a smart, tough leader, but he lacks the athleticism to be a full-time starter.
- The women lost their first two conference matches to tough opponents.
- A tough demeanor was required, but it wasn't innate as his reputation might lead us to think.
- She needed to be tough, and sympathy would only throw her off guard.
- 2.2 Difficult and requiring determination or effort.
we have six tough matches in a row Example sentencesExamples - Getting published and earning a bit of critical acclaim to spur on further creative efforts is tough for those starting out.
- It was a fair, tough match and the referee had little or nothing to do.
- I think acting is tough, as it requires great mental discipline.
- Also: finishing a tough job requires that you draw your hand theatrically across your brow.
- Sure, comedy is tough: it requires actual laughter to prove its value and worth.
- These questions require us to make tough decisions about how we distribute our finite resources.
- I suppose it will follow that pattern, but it will require some very tough work.
- It was another historic match, a tough fight between bat and ball, but at the end the target of 313 proved to be a bit too much for the West Indies.
- This was a very tough, exciting match and at half time we were down 2 tries.
- This will require tough decisions that cannot be ducked.
- He has had a year off the sport with injury and yet, in a tough, exhausting match, he was everywhere.
- With a tough run of matches in front of them it was important the Rams remained unbeaten in order to maintain their league position as the critical part of the season comes to fruition.
- It was a tough match and we're just glad to have come out of it okay.
- This is a tough process and will require NASA to make some hard decisions between now and September.
- It was a tough match, which provided excitement up to the very end with the result being a deserved draw for both sides.
- They anticipated a tough match and were not disappointed, and despite what the scoreboard might suggest, this was far from a one sided game.
- It will be a tough match and to be honest I think Ireland will struggle to win the Championship as Wales have already done the business against both the English and the French.
- ‘They are a good side and it will be a tough match,’ he had offered dutifully beforehand, and he wasn't wrong.
- But it was big job, a very tough assignment that required major cultural changes.
- Getting control of your finances requires tough choices
Synonyms arduous, onerous, difficult, demanding, hard, heavy, taxing, burdensome, tiring, exhausting, punishing, wearying, fatiguing, laborious, strenuous, exacting, troublesome, formidable, stressful, Herculean rare toilsome, exigent difficult, hard, knotty, thorny, baffling, tricky, ticklish, prickly, perplexing, puzzling, mystifying, troublesome, bothersome, irksome, intractable - 2.3 Used to express sympathy with someone in a difficult situation.
Poor kid. It's tough on her Example sentencesExamples - It was tough on the Frenchman, who made no contact with Douglas.
- I think it's going to be tough on the mother when that trial comes.
- I called her every night from New York and I'm sure it was extremely tough on her to hear me, not normally an emotional person, sobbing every night.
- It was tough on the Carlow girls who had put up a sterling second half fight back having trailed by six points at half time.
- He said it is very tough on Irish students who need up to 570 points to get medicine and may miss out by just 15 or 20 points.
- The nation's 40th chief executive knew it would be tough on the light of his life.
- Sereana Naikelekele says the situation is tough on all five kids.
- ‘It's been pretty tough on her as she's had a lot of catching up to do but we're trying to get her on the track as quick as we can,’ he said.
- It was tough on Barca but they showed they are learning quickly and can take great heart from their display.
- He said it was tough on students for whom it was the last day of their exams.
- It was tough on Belmullet who for most of the game had looked to be the better side but McDonagh's late goal knocked the wind out of their sails.
- There's a couple of times where she's gone to school and she's just in floods of tears and yeah it's really tough on them.
- It is tough on her, because everyone puts so much emphasis on the past and right now is the future.
- It's going to be tough on staff because they wouldn't be home until 3am after an evening meeting.
- It was tough on Pres Milltown who gave it everything but they just gave St Pats too big a lead and had little luck with marginal decisions.
- It is tough on Maloney that the arduous assignment of a UEFA Cup tie at home to VfB Stuttgart is being billed as if it were the equivalent of finishing school for the player.
- And they're geniuses, but it's just eaten them up and spit them out, and it's been tough on them.
- It turns out it's a lot of work and very tough on the staff.
- Both goals were stamped with class but it was tough on City, who hardly warranted being behind by one, never mind two.
- One of the worst, as any politician will attest, is that it is very tough on families.
3Demonstrating a strict and uncompromising approach. police have been getting tough with drivers tough new laws on tobacco advertising Example sentencesExamples - North Yorkshire Police said that while they were not holding a specific campaign this summer, they would still be tough on drink-drivers.
- The move is designed to streamline the prosecution of people who make false claims, and forms part of the companies' new, tough approach.
- Maintain a tough zero-tolerance approach against graffiti in most locations.
- It was in that role that Howard chiselled out a reputation for being tough and uncompromising.
- As we keep learning the hard way, efficient markets require tough regulators.
- The reason for the low turnout could be that the authorities' tough approach scared people away.
- As it developed, the Court took a tough approach to applying the law, and did not permit many restrictive agreements.
- They're very tough on executive privilege in general, and on the flow of information more broadly than that.
- Many thought so and believed that New Zealand, a tough and uncompromising side would provide a much sterner examination.
- This appraisal is as tough, uncompromising and brutally simplistic as many of Brogden's law-and-order policies.
- He is every bit as tough on his Conservative and Liberal Democrat interviewees as he is on New Labour and its supporters.
- He attempted to appease the nasty wing of his own party by being tough on immigrants, while pretending that his proposals were liberal and sensible.
- The ombudsman does take a tough investigative approach to claims that people did not understand what they were buying.
- We'll be tough on fraud, and there is fraud, and we have to go after it.
- But Blunkett's tough approach to social reform could only be argued by a minister free of personal distractions.
- The Government was positioning itself nicely to run a campaign based on its tough approach to dealing with asylum seekers.
- The noises coming from the ombudsman's office suggest the guidance, which is currently being written, will be fairly tough on companies.
- If criminal activity is taking place we will take a tough approach to drive it from our streets.
- So some organisations, very good retail organisations in terms of discerned as being successful, are quite tough on those sorts of issues.
- Colchester police have launched a new tough approach on people begging in the town, which a spokesman said should solve the problem faced by shopkeepers.
Synonyms strict, stern, severe, hard, harsh, firm, hard-hitting, adamant, inflexible, unyielding, unbending, uncompromising, unsentimental, unsympathetic merciless, ruthless, callous, hard-hearted, uncaring, cold, cool, stony, stony-hearted, flinty informal hard-nosed, hard-boiled North American informal badass - 3.1often as exclamation Used to express a lack of sympathy with someone.
I feel the way I feel, and if you don't like it, tough Example sentencesExamples - If what they did is within the parameters of the law, then tough for her she should have known better.
4Strong and prone to violence. Example sentencesExamples - Gilbart was still very strong and tough - the bulging muscles and calloused hands proved this.
- Here she's at her best, in a part that requires her to be tough and crude, a relentless force of pure ego.
- He was a tall, muscular man, obviously tough and afraid of nothing.
- Mr. R. was a big, burly tough guy who melted when he had to give his girls away.
- In my mind, I saw the tough young man I had met in the cathedral that night.
- Given those credentials, the character cries out for an old-school tough guy approach.
- Galvin's characters jump off the page at you whether he is describing a tough young cop like Fox or ‘Beano’ his snout.
- That sure as heck wasn't what a tough guy like Solid Snake would do.
- Outside the town centre pubs, tough young men and women in vests, jeans and tattoos were giving each other the thumbs up and cackling with glee.
- Carl gathered that the man was trying to compensate for the obvious lack of prestige with a tough guy attitude.
- Sadly, teams require tough guys or enforcers to keep the opposition honest.
- But let us go back to the uneven struggle between a tough, young yob and a frail pensioner.
- Hollywood sells tough men, beautiful women, simple storylines and violence.
- Even the ones who looked like tomorrow's tough teenagers were evincing childlike delight.
- About a moment after he left two tough and very heartless-looking guards walked in.
- A group of teenagers thinking they were tough, accosted us in an alley.
- New Russian is a euphemism for black-market pimp, smuggler, gangster, any tough young man with capitalist cash, and there are lots of them.
- Sarah was a tough girl, muscular even, very strong and with a real hot temperament.
- While all agree he is tough and prone to losing his temper, there is almost universal respect for his abilities as a soldier.
- He looks like a tough young man to me… Just wondering here, William, but who exactly are these kids?
Synonyms rough, rowdy, unruly, disorderly, violent, wild, lawless, lawbreaking, criminal - 4.1 (of an area) notorious for violence and crime.
Example sentencesExamples - When it comes to hard work in tough areas, no one can match him and it's not by accident that Sinn Féin have consistently failed to get a toehold in his area.
- But I grew up in a tough area of the East End of London and didn't have it easy.
- Mr Galloway was born and brought up in a tough working-class area of Dundee.
- I have been proud of those ministers in our diocese who have willingly moved into tough areas.
- The Bulldogs, based at Belmore in a tough working-class area south-west of Sydney wanted to move to a Liverpool suburb.
- The mother of six grew up in Garryowen - a tough area in Limerick City whose rugby club gave the world the term for hoofing the ball in the air and chasing frantically after it.
- His mother had to move her seven children (Cisse is the youngest) from a pleasant country town to a tough estate in Arles.
- He grew up in a single-parent home in a tough area of Virginia Beach and didn't meet his father until two years ago.
- Butch Hays himself came from the tough south central area of Los Angeles.
- Yet, it's a vehicle for tough people venturing into tough areas.
- Brought up the hard way, the Garda believed that for one to become so prominent in such a tough area, there was no doubting Mr Kelly was a highly intelligent man.
- He comes from a tough area of the country where dairying, in particular, is making great strides.
- As to walking through tough bits of town, it's not sympathy I was hoping to elicit for anyone.
- They were a group of very tough boys from a very tough area.
- Although it was a tough estate, there was never any serious trouble.
- Lacy hails from a tough area of St Petersburg in Florida, and he openly admits that if it were not for boxing he could have trod the wrong side of the tracks like two of his brothers who ended up in jail.
- But these lads are from the inner city with all the dangers and things that go on in tough areas.
- This can be a very tough area - yuppies and artists mixing it with the desperate homeless and the families on welfare.
- He has always had his sights set on working as a priest on a tough estate or in a prison.
- So it's a very, very tough area that the marines are facing here.
Synonyms rough, rowdy, unruly, disorderly, violent, wild, lawless, lawbreaking, criminal
noun tʌftəf informal A rough and violent man. Example sentencesExamples - They're basically young toughs in these projects, and they're just not responding to any kind of calls for moderation to the violence, not even from their parents, by the way.
- These falsetto-led odes to love and innocence requiring precise singing were born on street corners among gangs of toughs.
- Today, Sheen regrets the incident but insists that he never started fights as a young tough but only fought in support of others.
- He told me he was a young tough from the streets of Chicago who heard God's call to be a soldier of Christ.
- I remember one time when a young tough entered the dojo in military uniform saying that he could cross a bokken with anyone.
- Of course, we could only laugh up our sleeves at the local toughs, eschewing violence as we did.
- A misfit gang of working-class street toughs from Queens, the Ramones were ruled with an iron fist by guitarist Johnny.
- In retribution, young toughs from Luay's entourage severely beat and maimed the professor who gave Luay the failing grade and later tried to ambush al-Rawi himself on the street.
- All this makes European football look like one of those dingy dive bars where a dozen or so swarthy, unshaven toughs chase two or three belles.
- The sixth is a tough from the East who dresses up like a bad man and plays some low-down trick that gives the boys a bad name.
- Three young would be toughs tried to mug him outside his hotel.
- Joe's relatives tell him to stick to his own kind, yet the toughs that beat him up don't see him as of their own class.
- After seeing the deaths of their friends, they have little if any patience for organized street toughs.
- A great moment early on: confronted by a gang of toughs upon strolling into town, the samurai calmly taunts them.
- One disaster follows another on this, the worst day of Bruce Nolan's life, as he's fired from the station, beaten up by a gang of toughs, who then vandalise his car.
- He loses his barings and is confronted by a young tough, Carter, who demands five dollars for directions.
- But its tracing of the band's origins from glue-sniffing toughs from Queens to kings of punk resonated with a sincerity and sweetness that won over critics and the audience.
- Joining him are a group of hip, young toughs who thirst for the kind of action that only being a Texas Ranger can offer.
- ‘Just keep on dancing,’ Gavito barks when two macho young toughs start to fight, then grabs a partner and struts his own marvelous stuff.
- I'm sure I have avoided countless beatings by neighbourhood toughs because of my ability to resemble cloud cover.
- He joined the school football team, a motley collection of toughs.
- I would like to begin by dismissing the assertion that the AVC is nothing but a gang of toughs who go about setting fire to kittens and extorting cash from other VUWSA funded activity groups.
- The three obviously mature gentlemen successfully vanquish a group of unruly young toughs with head butts.
- Ken has taken the breakup pretty hard and has since fallen in with a gang of toughs calling themselves the ‘Masters of the Universe’, headed by busty-chested warrior He-Man.
- Or was he in a lock-up in the east end of Glasgow getting roughed up and questioned by some toughs with nasty scars who wanted the keys to his toy factory?
- In the afternoon, when we're all coming in from Sunday, the usual three toughs from the bus department get on for a surprise ticket inspection.
- The gang is comprised of good-bad-but-not-evil young toughs defending their neighborhood against a rival crew seeking to introduce the local urchins to the life-affirming wonders of heroin addiction.
- These Christian bikers come from all walks of life, though many of them are ex-motorcycle gang toughs who've been born again.
- It narrates the tale of mid-19th century New York dominated by street toughs, racist gangs, corrupt policemen and politicians.
- When three young toughs assault a bathhouse customer who owes them money, Master Liu stands up to them with quiet dignity.
- Gangs of toughs no longer use the shop class for a game of craps.
- Groups of toughs would observe and point out the best actions, or ridicule the softies who couldn't cope.
- It was exactly seven days later, under the cover of night, that a gang of toughs attacked my brother Saul.
- From his ornate hotel room, Kimbrough rules the town through his cohorts, Sheriff Swede Hansen, and his gunslinger Spanish, as well as a gang of local toughs.
- Ki-tae and Cheol-su are a couple of young street toughs looking to get married to the mob.
- Tom Powers and Matt Doyle are two young toughs.
- He has written that academics work more insidiously than the street toughs they effectively team up with on occasion.
- He didn't want unemployed young toughs handing out street justice.
- Similarly Wang missed the gang era of the late 1970s and early 1980s when those children whose parents had been sent deep into the countryside for re-education formed their own cadres of street toughs.
- Howson became famous for his vivid depictions of Glasgow street toughs before travelling to Bosnia as the UK's official war artist in 1993.
Synonyms ruffian, rowdy, thug, hoodlum, hooligan, brute, bully, bully boy, rough, gangster, desperado informal hard man, roughneck, yob, yobbo, heavy, bruiser, tough guy, toughie, gorilla, yahoo North American informal hood Australian/New Zealand informal hoon
verb tʌftəf tough it outinformal Endure a period of hardship or difficulty. Example sentencesExamples - These guys - despite being raised by a monster who supposedly took them on teenage tours of his torture chambers - were patently ill equipped to really tough it out when the chips were down.
- So I shall tough it out and take comfort in the fact that no-one on the outside (except the occasional former student to whom I make less sense than usual) can tell.
- We've been trying to tough it out but it's difficult to come together in a short space of time under a new coach.
- Have your pain at home, not in the office; show you can tough it out and play the game.
- Instead, he tried to use his bully-boy manner and arrogance to tough it out.
- It seemed clear that the Prime Minister was going to tough it out, hoping, no doubt, that the hoopla over the Olympics would quickly distract the attention of the electors.
- We always seem to be able to tough it out when things are against us.
- We were ultimately offered yet a different suite that was already at a lower temperature, but as it was now after midnight and we'd unpacked a lot of our stuff, we decided to tough it out.
- I started an octave too high but instead of stopping and beginning again I decided to tough it out and ‘go for it’ by trying to reach the top note of a particularly challenging musical piece.
- Her proposal: to tough it out alone at the campsite while I paddled the four days, 16 lakes, and 15 portages to call for a rescue party at the nearest phone.
Synonyms put up with it, grin and bear it, keep at it, keep going, stay with it, see it through, see it through to the end
Phrases vulgar slang Used to express a lack of sympathy with someone.
Derivatives adjective It is preoccupying the British as never before, and the result will presumably be the toughening of already toughish laws. Example sentencesExamples - With your little non-repeating popgun, you're forced to wade through a few toughish sub-levels, before - hang on to your hats, viewers, you'll never expect this one - having to take on all the previous stages' bosses one after the other!
- This toughish walk takes 4-5 hours, but leads through spectacular scenery.
- Ours was toughish and not much on taste either.
- The buffet runs a fish-centric gamut from savory casseroles and coconut-milk stews to toughish scallops and decent sushi.
adverb ˈtʌfliˈtəfli These acts are illegal and have to be pursued vigorously and toughly, without any exceptions. Example sentencesExamples - As I have indicated, there is widespread ignorance of penal affairs, and talking toughly about crime and its punishment is a good way to appeal, through that ignorance, to the illiberal and the reactionary.
- The need to react toughly against those who were harbouring terrorists, as well as against the terrorists themselves, was widely understood.
- However, Britain and the US may struggle to persuade the other three permanent members of the Security Council - France, Russia and China - not to use their vetoes to block such a toughly worded resolution.
- But what is so gripping is the way she ages in the course of this film, changing, by the time we reach its harrowing finale, into the toughly self-reliant and sexy take-charge woman who defined her subsequent roles.
Origin Old English tōh, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch taai and German zäh. An Old English word related to taut (Middle English) the early spelling of which was tought. As a noun, meaning ‘a rough and violent man or youth’, it dates from the 1860s, in the USA. If you are as tough as old boots you are very sturdy or resilient. The earliest version of the phrase was as tough as leather. Before he became the British prime minister or even party leader, Tony Blair made a speech at the Labour Party Conference in September 1993, when he was Shadow Home Secretary. The speech brought him to public attention and included the words: ‘Labour is the party of law and order in Britain today. Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime’.
Definition of tough in US English: toughadjectivetəftəf 1(of a substance or object) strong enough to withstand adverse conditions or rough or careless handling. tough backpacks for climbers Example sentencesExamples - They are tough enough to withstand being walked on occasionally and will reward the passer-by with perfume released from the crushed foliage.
- Polycarbonate is a tough material but not hard.
- If you have ever polished some hard, tough material like metal or marble you know how much energy it takes.
- Bags are sent wrapped in tissue, wrapped in recycled plastic, then sealed into a recyclable tough paper mailer bag.
- African rice is tough enough to fight drought, but many west African farmers abandoned the variety in favour of Asian strains that produce more grains per plant.
- He knows just how to make tight leggings, rough, tough leathers and plush cashmere absolutely dazzling.
- I've sliced them in half, cut away the tough fibres, drizzled them with olive oil, and grilled them.
- Wood is a tough material that lasts a long time and is easy to repair.
- Occasionally someone would get hit in the foot or leg, but school shoe leather was tough and the last thing you'd do was report any mishaps.
- The handle is made of G-l0, a tough material favored by tactical knife makers.
- This bouncy rubber was surprisingly tough stuff.
- In early 1943 two American professors discovered that a very tough material could be produced by adding a small amount of wood pulp to water before freezing.
- Wax is a tough moisture barrier, doesn't rot wood or synthetic stocks, and doesn't attract dirt.
- This is moisture resistant and forms a tough coating which can be washed with soap and water.
- Stainless steel is a tough metal and does not rust, but it's harder to sharpen.
- All of the following clothes are made up of a tough material which should be strong against almost all elements of magic.
- The balls used in boccia are mainly made of tough leather and filled with a grain-like substance.
- But cement is exceptionally tough and not very porous and its use at Fountains has essentially reversed this process.
- The Aldgate train was the standard London model, built of a tough steel frame upon which aluminium bodywork is bolted firmly down.
- The ground began shacking with such great force, not even the lifeless roots obscured in the grey soil were tough enough to hold up their dying masters.
Synonyms durable, strong, resilient, resistant, sturdy, rugged, firm, solid, substantial, sound, stout, indestructible, unbreakable, hard, rigid, stiff, inflexible, toughened - 1.1 (of food, especially meat) difficult to cut or chew.
Example sentencesExamples - The meat was a little tough, but the flavour, infused with lemon, was delicious, a light meat somewhere between lamb and beef.
- It's best to keep the stems out of most dishes, since all but the newest growth is too tough to chew.
- I got used to drinking powdered milk, living off rice and kidney beans, occasionally a bit of tough meat in a stew as a treat.
- The pigs' apprehension about being eaten results in tough meat, which is why pork no longer tastes good.
- The man brought dry cheese, more water, and a hunk of tough meat that tasted more than a little rancid.
- I tried a small pastie that looked safe, but the meat inside was so tough I had to swallow it nearly whole after chewing for a couple of minutes.
- The lamb cutlet was also tough: though served quite rare, it was uncuttable, unchewable and tasteless.
- The fruit is tough and prickly on the outside, tender and sweet on the inside.
- Rabbits, horses, and elephants chew tough grasses, leaves, and plants.
- Move those cows too fast and you end up with very fit, very lean, very tough sirloin.
- Hominids had teeth that resembled those of pigs and bears, which can chew tough, fiber-rich food.
- I have a headache, and all I've had to chew on are these infernal, tough pieces of salt meat.
- The meat is still tough and not as palatable as typical American cuisine, but it's also not that bad.
- She chewed on the cooked piece of tough meat that had been in the saddlebag, not pausing to wonder how it had gotten there.
- I've been grazing among the blogs and chewing that question like a tough mouthful of cud.
- Most of them are sipping coffee, or reading newspapers, or chewing morosely on tough bread.
- One or two are so contorted that poor old Lawson, who is a consummate professional, looks like he has been compelled to chew on a tough piece of sirloin and then spit it out in public.
- She says it was slippery and she could not cut it with a knife. She took it in her hand and placed it in her mouth, but the ‘meat’ was so tough she could not bite through it.
- Duck legs have fairly tough meat - the legs are worked hard during their lifespan, making the flesh taut and muscly.
- Recipes from regions where tough meat is the norm often call for a marinade made with fruit or juice.
Synonyms chewy, leathery, gristly, stringy, fibrous, sinewy, cartilaginous
2Able to endure hardship or pain. even at this ripe old age, he's still as tough as old boots Example sentencesExamples - But Duncan came from the generation before the welfare state, when to survive at all you had to be as tough as old boots - and he was.
- Another point I make in About Face was that I had learned about war from tough old sergeants and captains who had fought the big war.
- Football's about tough uncompromising individuals, who bleed real blood, take no prisoners and fight to the very end, yeah?
- He's a tough old bastard, and he's pulled through things like this before.
- To have to go through that family scandal and still be a sweet, genuine person - how tough she was to endure that.
- However, the tough Belgian was able to recover enough to catch the pack and hand with the grupetto on the final climb.
- To be fair to him, he's as tough as old boots and he just galloped to the line.
- Happily, Russian skaters tend to be tough as old boots.
- Cosmopolitans, not tough pioneers, they lacked the grit required to face the hardships of frontier life.
- Though you look delicate you are tough as nails and prone to intricacies…
- Many of them have led hard lives already, and they are tough, angry and unforgiving.
- I am, in fact, either as tough as old boots, or as soft as a particularly fluffy bunny, depending on who you ask, and when.
- They are a tough, resilient and uncomplaining people (as I saw first hand in the casualty areas in 1974).
- It then turned out that my grandad is as tough as old boots, and probably just wanted to take attention away from me getting a job.
- ‘Reg is a real fighter by nature, he is as tough as old boots and will not give in,’ said Linn.
- And, you know, he was a tough priest who was sympathetic, but you know, I think he was used to tragedy.
- Finally there is the underlying truth that Carol is as tough as old boots, and frankly, as sexy as a Sherman tank.
- It was strange because in contrast my Nan was as tough as old boots; she just had a tendency to say insane things.
- He was strong and brave, a happy-go-lucky person but also tough and able to live on his own.
- She may be tough and indifferent on the outside but I could see that deep inside she was experiencing tremendous pain and sorrow.
Synonyms resilient, strong, hardy, gritty, determined, resolute, dogged, stalwart - 2.1 Having the confidence and determination to cope in difficult situations.
she's both sensitive and tough Example sentencesExamples - He then fought and won a hard match with the tough Mr. D. to take back his crown.
- Clarence Moore fills various roles, from perimeter shooter to tough defender to solid rebounder.
- A track for tough cars and tough drivers, it tests every component and every sinew to the limit and few pass with flying colours.
- Driver 2 is equally tough, but at least this time the missions aren't impossibly hard from the very outset.
- I saw the older men trying to demonstrate they were still tough and able.
- She needed to be tough, and sympathy would only throw her off guard.
- He is smart, tough and instinctual, but a lack of speed hurts him in coverage.
- Brees is smart, tough and had the confidence of his teammates after leading them to 20 wins over the last two years.
- Despite losing his round to an older competitor the tough tot's family said he would not be deterred.
- Braham is a smart, tough leader, but he lacks the athleticism to be a full-time starter.
- She is young and tough, the servants respect her, and everything is in impeccable order.
- Meanwhile, co-star Jolie is perfectly suited as the tough, intelligent young lady who can pierce anybody with a silent stare.
- In any case, with Beeching reluctant to play the game and with Marples determined to be tough, it was difficult to predict which lines would be spared in advance.
- Lincou is a muscular, tough player who likes to occupy the center of the court, causing his opponents to run around him.
- The girls were very tough and demonstrated their excellent skills and the only fair decision after three great rounds was a draw.
- Unwilling Accomplice is the story of two violent criminals on the run and the tough young woman who outwits them.
- A tough demeanor was required, but it wasn't innate as his reputation might lead us to think.
- The women lost their first two conference matches to tough opponents.
- Brunson is a tough defender and solid passer, attributes coach Bill Cartwright seeks.
- Maybe with the emergence of young, tough defenders such as Chris Gbandi that will change.
- 2.2 Involving considerable difficulty or hardship; requiring great determination or effort.
the training has been quite tough he had a tough time getting into a good college Example sentencesExamples - They anticipated a tough match and were not disappointed, and despite what the scoreboard might suggest, this was far from a one sided game.
- It was another historic match, a tough fight between bat and ball, but at the end the target of 313 proved to be a bit too much for the West Indies.
- It will be a tough match and to be honest I think Ireland will struggle to win the Championship as Wales have already done the business against both the English and the French.
- Getting control of your finances requires tough choices
- Getting published and earning a bit of critical acclaim to spur on further creative efforts is tough for those starting out.
- But it was big job, a very tough assignment that required major cultural changes.
- These questions require us to make tough decisions about how we distribute our finite resources.
- It was a fair, tough match and the referee had little or nothing to do.
- He has had a year off the sport with injury and yet, in a tough, exhausting match, he was everywhere.
- Also: finishing a tough job requires that you draw your hand theatrically across your brow.
- I think acting is tough, as it requires great mental discipline.
- Sure, comedy is tough: it requires actual laughter to prove its value and worth.
- It was a tough match and we're just glad to have come out of it okay.
- I suppose it will follow that pattern, but it will require some very tough work.
- It was a tough match, which provided excitement up to the very end with the result being a deserved draw for both sides.
- With a tough run of matches in front of them it was important the Rams remained unbeaten in order to maintain their league position as the critical part of the season comes to fruition.
- This will require tough decisions that cannot be ducked.
- This is a tough process and will require NASA to make some hard decisions between now and September.
- ‘They are a good side and it will be a tough match,’ he had offered dutifully beforehand, and he wasn't wrong.
- This was a very tough, exciting match and at half time we were down 2 tries.
Synonyms arduous, onerous, difficult, demanding, hard, heavy, taxing, burdensome, tiring, exhausting, punishing, wearying, fatiguing, laborious, strenuous, exacting, troublesome, formidable, stressful, herculean difficult, hard, knotty, thorny, baffling, tricky, ticklish, prickly, perplexing, puzzling, mystifying, troublesome, bothersome, irksome, intractable - 2.3 Used to express sympathy with someone in an unpleasant or difficult situation.
Poor kid. It's tough on her Example sentencesExamples - It was tough on Pres Milltown who gave it everything but they just gave St Pats too big a lead and had little luck with marginal decisions.
- It turns out it's a lot of work and very tough on the staff.
- It is tough on Maloney that the arduous assignment of a UEFA Cup tie at home to VfB Stuttgart is being billed as if it were the equivalent of finishing school for the player.
- One of the worst, as any politician will attest, is that it is very tough on families.
- The nation's 40th chief executive knew it would be tough on the light of his life.
- There's a couple of times where she's gone to school and she's just in floods of tears and yeah it's really tough on them.
- It was tough on the Frenchman, who made no contact with Douglas.
- I called her every night from New York and I'm sure it was extremely tough on her to hear me, not normally an emotional person, sobbing every night.
- He said it was tough on students for whom it was the last day of their exams.
- It was tough on Barca but they showed they are learning quickly and can take great heart from their display.
- I think it's going to be tough on the mother when that trial comes.
- He said it is very tough on Irish students who need up to 570 points to get medicine and may miss out by just 15 or 20 points.
- It was tough on the Carlow girls who had put up a sterling second half fight back having trailed by six points at half time.
- Both goals were stamped with class but it was tough on City, who hardly warranted being behind by one, never mind two.
- ‘It's been pretty tough on her as she's had a lot of catching up to do but we're trying to get her on the track as quick as we can,’ he said.
- And they're geniuses, but it's just eaten them up and spit them out, and it's been tough on them.
- Sereana Naikelekele says the situation is tough on all five kids.
- It is tough on her, because everyone puts so much emphasis on the past and right now is the future.
- It was tough on Belmullet who for most of the game had looked to be the better side but McDonagh's late goal knocked the wind out of their sails.
- It's going to be tough on staff because they wouldn't be home until 3am after an evening meeting.
3Demonstrating a strict and uncompromising attitude or approach. police have been getting tough with drivers tough new laws on tobacco advertising Example sentencesExamples - Many thought so and believed that New Zealand, a tough and uncompromising side would provide a much sterner examination.
- The reason for the low turnout could be that the authorities' tough approach scared people away.
- The ombudsman does take a tough investigative approach to claims that people did not understand what they were buying.
- But Blunkett's tough approach to social reform could only be argued by a minister free of personal distractions.
- This appraisal is as tough, uncompromising and brutally simplistic as many of Brogden's law-and-order policies.
- They're very tough on executive privilege in general, and on the flow of information more broadly than that.
- He is every bit as tough on his Conservative and Liberal Democrat interviewees as he is on New Labour and its supporters.
- Colchester police have launched a new tough approach on people begging in the town, which a spokesman said should solve the problem faced by shopkeepers.
- As we keep learning the hard way, efficient markets require tough regulators.
- He attempted to appease the nasty wing of his own party by being tough on immigrants, while pretending that his proposals were liberal and sensible.
- The noises coming from the ombudsman's office suggest the guidance, which is currently being written, will be fairly tough on companies.
- North Yorkshire Police said that while they were not holding a specific campaign this summer, they would still be tough on drink-drivers.
- Maintain a tough zero-tolerance approach against graffiti in most locations.
- As it developed, the Court took a tough approach to applying the law, and did not permit many restrictive agreements.
- The Government was positioning itself nicely to run a campaign based on its tough approach to dealing with asylum seekers.
- If criminal activity is taking place we will take a tough approach to drive it from our streets.
- We'll be tough on fraud, and there is fraud, and we have to go after it.
- It was in that role that Howard chiselled out a reputation for being tough and uncompromising.
- So some organisations, very good retail organisations in terms of discerned as being successful, are quite tough on those sorts of issues.
- The move is designed to streamline the prosecution of people who make false claims, and forms part of the companies' new, tough approach.
Synonyms strict, stern, severe, hard, harsh, firm, hard-hitting, adamant, inflexible, unyielding, unbending, uncompromising, unsentimental, unsympathetic - 3.1often as exclamation Used to express a lack of sympathy with someone.
I feel the way I feel, and if you don't like it, tough Example sentencesExamples - If what they did is within the parameters of the law, then tough for her she should have known better.
4(of a person) strong and prone to violence. Example sentencesExamples - A group of teenagers thinking they were tough, accosted us in an alley.
- Given those credentials, the character cries out for an old-school tough guy approach.
- While all agree he is tough and prone to losing his temper, there is almost universal respect for his abilities as a soldier.
- Carl gathered that the man was trying to compensate for the obvious lack of prestige with a tough guy attitude.
- He looks like a tough young man to me… Just wondering here, William, but who exactly are these kids?
- He was a tall, muscular man, obviously tough and afraid of nothing.
- In my mind, I saw the tough young man I had met in the cathedral that night.
- Gilbart was still very strong and tough - the bulging muscles and calloused hands proved this.
- Here she's at her best, in a part that requires her to be tough and crude, a relentless force of pure ego.
- About a moment after he left two tough and very heartless-looking guards walked in.
- Mr. R. was a big, burly tough guy who melted when he had to give his girls away.
- Hollywood sells tough men, beautiful women, simple storylines and violence.
- But let us go back to the uneven struggle between a tough, young yob and a frail pensioner.
- New Russian is a euphemism for black-market pimp, smuggler, gangster, any tough young man with capitalist cash, and there are lots of them.
- Galvin's characters jump off the page at you whether he is describing a tough young cop like Fox or ‘Beano’ his snout.
- Sarah was a tough girl, muscular even, very strong and with a real hot temperament.
- Even the ones who looked like tomorrow's tough teenagers were evincing childlike delight.
- Outside the town centre pubs, tough young men and women in vests, jeans and tattoos were giving each other the thumbs up and cackling with glee.
- Sadly, teams require tough guys or enforcers to keep the opposition honest.
- That sure as heck wasn't what a tough guy like Solid Snake would do.
Synonyms rough, rowdy, unruly, disorderly, violent, wild, lawless, lawbreaking, criminal - 4.1 (of an area) notorious for violence and crime.
Example sentencesExamples - His mother had to move her seven children (Cisse is the youngest) from a pleasant country town to a tough estate in Arles.
- Mr Galloway was born and brought up in a tough working-class area of Dundee.
- Butch Hays himself came from the tough south central area of Los Angeles.
- The Bulldogs, based at Belmore in a tough working-class area south-west of Sydney wanted to move to a Liverpool suburb.
- As to walking through tough bits of town, it's not sympathy I was hoping to elicit for anyone.
- So it's a very, very tough area that the marines are facing here.
- He has always had his sights set on working as a priest on a tough estate or in a prison.
- This can be a very tough area - yuppies and artists mixing it with the desperate homeless and the families on welfare.
- He comes from a tough area of the country where dairying, in particular, is making great strides.
- Brought up the hard way, the Garda believed that for one to become so prominent in such a tough area, there was no doubting Mr Kelly was a highly intelligent man.
- Although it was a tough estate, there was never any serious trouble.
- The mother of six grew up in Garryowen - a tough area in Limerick City whose rugby club gave the world the term for hoofing the ball in the air and chasing frantically after it.
- They were a group of very tough boys from a very tough area.
- Yet, it's a vehicle for tough people venturing into tough areas.
- When it comes to hard work in tough areas, no one can match him and it's not by accident that Sinn Féin have consistently failed to get a toehold in his area.
- But I grew up in a tough area of the East End of London and didn't have it easy.
- I have been proud of those ministers in our diocese who have willingly moved into tough areas.
- Lacy hails from a tough area of St Petersburg in Florida, and he openly admits that if it were not for boxing he could have trod the wrong side of the tracks like two of his brothers who ended up in jail.
- But these lads are from the inner city with all the dangers and things that go on in tough areas.
- He grew up in a single-parent home in a tough area of Virginia Beach and didn't meet his father until two years ago.
Synonyms rough, rowdy, unruly, disorderly, violent, wild, lawless, lawbreaking, criminal
nountəftəf informal A rough and violent person, especially a gangster or criminal. young toughs sporting their state-of-the-art firearms Example sentencesExamples - ‘Just keep on dancing,’ Gavito barks when two macho young toughs start to fight, then grabs a partner and struts his own marvelous stuff.
- A great moment early on: confronted by a gang of toughs upon strolling into town, the samurai calmly taunts them.
- Or was he in a lock-up in the east end of Glasgow getting roughed up and questioned by some toughs with nasty scars who wanted the keys to his toy factory?
- I would like to begin by dismissing the assertion that the AVC is nothing but a gang of toughs who go about setting fire to kittens and extorting cash from other VUWSA funded activity groups.
- Gangs of toughs no longer use the shop class for a game of craps.
- One disaster follows another on this, the worst day of Bruce Nolan's life, as he's fired from the station, beaten up by a gang of toughs, who then vandalise his car.
- He didn't want unemployed young toughs handing out street justice.
- It was exactly seven days later, under the cover of night, that a gang of toughs attacked my brother Saul.
- It narrates the tale of mid-19th century New York dominated by street toughs, racist gangs, corrupt policemen and politicians.
- When three young toughs assault a bathhouse customer who owes them money, Master Liu stands up to them with quiet dignity.
- Howson became famous for his vivid depictions of Glasgow street toughs before travelling to Bosnia as the UK's official war artist in 1993.
- Of course, we could only laugh up our sleeves at the local toughs, eschewing violence as we did.
- Today, Sheen regrets the incident but insists that he never started fights as a young tough but only fought in support of others.
- The three obviously mature gentlemen successfully vanquish a group of unruly young toughs with head butts.
- The gang is comprised of good-bad-but-not-evil young toughs defending their neighborhood against a rival crew seeking to introduce the local urchins to the life-affirming wonders of heroin addiction.
- Joe's relatives tell him to stick to his own kind, yet the toughs that beat him up don't see him as of their own class.
- These falsetto-led odes to love and innocence requiring precise singing were born on street corners among gangs of toughs.
- Ken has taken the breakup pretty hard and has since fallen in with a gang of toughs calling themselves the ‘Masters of the Universe’, headed by busty-chested warrior He-Man.
- All this makes European football look like one of those dingy dive bars where a dozen or so swarthy, unshaven toughs chase two or three belles.
- He joined the school football team, a motley collection of toughs.
- The sixth is a tough from the East who dresses up like a bad man and plays some low-down trick that gives the boys a bad name.
- Joining him are a group of hip, young toughs who thirst for the kind of action that only being a Texas Ranger can offer.
- Similarly Wang missed the gang era of the late 1970s and early 1980s when those children whose parents had been sent deep into the countryside for re-education formed their own cadres of street toughs.
- After seeing the deaths of their friends, they have little if any patience for organized street toughs.
- Tom Powers and Matt Doyle are two young toughs.
- A misfit gang of working-class street toughs from Queens, the Ramones were ruled with an iron fist by guitarist Johnny.
- From his ornate hotel room, Kimbrough rules the town through his cohorts, Sheriff Swede Hansen, and his gunslinger Spanish, as well as a gang of local toughs.
- Ki-tae and Cheol-su are a couple of young street toughs looking to get married to the mob.
- In retribution, young toughs from Luay's entourage severely beat and maimed the professor who gave Luay the failing grade and later tried to ambush al-Rawi himself on the street.
- He loses his barings and is confronted by a young tough, Carter, who demands five dollars for directions.
- Three young would be toughs tried to mug him outside his hotel.
- He has written that academics work more insidiously than the street toughs they effectively team up with on occasion.
- But its tracing of the band's origins from glue-sniffing toughs from Queens to kings of punk resonated with a sincerity and sweetness that won over critics and the audience.
- Groups of toughs would observe and point out the best actions, or ridicule the softies who couldn't cope.
- They're basically young toughs in these projects, and they're just not responding to any kind of calls for moderation to the violence, not even from their parents, by the way.
- He told me he was a young tough from the streets of Chicago who heard God's call to be a soldier of Christ.
- In the afternoon, when we're all coming in from Sunday, the usual three toughs from the bus department get on for a surprise ticket inspection.
- I remember one time when a young tough entered the dojo in military uniform saying that he could cross a bokken with anyone.
- These Christian bikers come from all walks of life, though many of them are ex-motorcycle gang toughs who've been born again.
- I'm sure I have avoided countless beatings by neighbourhood toughs because of my ability to resemble cloud cover.
Synonyms ruffian, rowdy, thug, hoodlum, hooligan, brute, bully, bully boy, rough, gangster, desperado
verbtəftəf tough it outinformal Endure a period of hardship or difficulty. Example sentencesExamples - We've been trying to tough it out but it's difficult to come together in a short space of time under a new coach.
- Have your pain at home, not in the office; show you can tough it out and play the game.
- So I shall tough it out and take comfort in the fact that no-one on the outside (except the occasional former student to whom I make less sense than usual) can tell.
- Her proposal: to tough it out alone at the campsite while I paddled the four days, 16 lakes, and 15 portages to call for a rescue party at the nearest phone.
- It seemed clear that the Prime Minister was going to tough it out, hoping, no doubt, that the hoopla over the Olympics would quickly distract the attention of the electors.
- Instead, he tried to use his bully-boy manner and arrogance to tough it out.
- We always seem to be able to tough it out when things are against us.
- We were ultimately offered yet a different suite that was already at a lower temperature, but as it was now after midnight and we'd unpacked a lot of our stuff, we decided to tough it out.
- These guys - despite being raised by a monster who supposedly took them on teenage tours of his torture chambers - were patently ill equipped to really tough it out when the chips were down.
- I started an octave too high but instead of stopping and beginning again I decided to tough it out and ‘go for it’ by trying to reach the top note of a particularly challenging musical piece.
Synonyms put up with it, grin and bear it, keep at it, keep going, stay with it, see it through, see it through to the end
Phrases vulgar slang Used to express a lack of sympathy with someone.
Origin Old English tōh, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch taai and German zäh. |