hard-boiled

[hahrd-boild] /ˈhɑrdˈbɔɪld/
adjective
1.
Cookery. (of an egg) boiled in the shell long enough for the yolk and white to solidify.
2.
Informal. tough; unsentimental:
a hard-boiled vice-squad detective.
3.
marked by a direct, clear-headed approach; realistic:
a hard-boiled appraisal of the foreign situation.
4.
(of detective fiction) written in a laconic, dispassionate, often ironic style for a realistic, unsentimental effect.
Origin
1715-25; 1895-80 for def 2; hard + boiled
Related forms
hard-boiledness, noun

hard-boil

[hahrd-boil] /ˈhɑrdˈbɔɪl/
verb (used with object)
1.
to boil (an egg) until the yolk and white have become firm or solid.
Origin
1890-95
British Dictionary definitions for hard-boiled

hard-boiled

adjective
1.
(of an egg) boiled until the yolk and white are solid
2.
(informal)
  1. tough, realistic
  2. cynical
Word Origin and History for hard-boiled
adj.

also hardboiled, 1723 in reference to eggs, from hard + boiled. In transferred sense "severe, tough," from 1886.

Slang definitions & phrases for hard-boiled

hard-boiled

adjective

Severe and uncompromising; strict and pugnacious; tough: The rather hard-boiled painting that hangs in Father's office

[1886+; fr hardboiled egg]