hard-boiled

Definitions

1. 1

   Of a boiled egg, cooked to a solid consistency.

2. 2

   Of a person, especially a detective, callous and unsentimental.

   • He told me afterward that he tried to find his folks and square himself—and maybe it was the truth—but some of the hard-boiled townspeople found him, instead, and he had a running fight all the way to the depot.
   • 'Some big, hard-boiled egg meets up with a pretty face, and bingo! He cracks up and melts.'
   • Christ, maybe that blond was only a bitch after all. Maybe she put out even to the punks. Come to think of it, she looked a little hard-boiled. The kind of a broad who knew a hell of a lot.
3. 3

   Written in a laconic, dispassionate, often ironic style for a realistic, unsentimental…

   Written in a laconic, dispassionate, often ironic style for a realistic, unsentimental effect.

4. ›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer

   1. 4

      simple past and past participle of hard-boil

The neighborhood