hard-boiled

American  

[hahrd-boild] / ˈhɑrdˈbɔɪld /

adjective

1. Cooking. (of an egg) boiled boil 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.

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hard-boiled British  

adjective

1. (of an egg) boiled until the yolk and white are solid

2. informal

   1. tough, realistic

   2. cynical

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Other Word Forms

• hard-boiledness noun

Etymology

Origin of hard-boiled

1715–25; 1895–80 hard-boiled for def. 2; hard + boiled

Example Sentences

For my daughter’s sake, I never left our hotel or Airbnb without a full water bottle and a hard-boiled egg or two from the breakfast buffet.

From Los Angeles Times

“It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime,” Jake writes, “but at night it is another thing.”

From Salon

“That night we served the hard-boiled eggs with a piquant herbaceous dressing that is somewhere at the intersection of gremolata, chimichurri and paradise,” he continued.

From Salon

At the center of that deliriously hopeful dinner is the aforementioned timpano: a hulking, drum-shaped marvel filled with layers of pasta, meatballs, salami, hard-boiled eggs, cheese and ragù.

From Salon

A cultured breed distinct from the hard-boiled native brand, its king and queen are Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, as it is almost impossible not to know.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• hard-nosed