Hard-boiled

[hahrd-boild] /ˈhɑrdˈbɔɪld/

adjective
1.
Cookery. (of an egg) 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.
[hahrd-boil] /ˈhɑrdˈbɔɪl/
verb (used with object)
1.
to boil (an egg) until the yolk and white have become firm or solid.
adjective
1.
(of an egg) boiled until the yolk and white are solid
2.
(informal)

adj.

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

adjective

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

[1886+; fr hardboiled egg]

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