hard-boiled

[ hahrd-boild ]

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.

hard-boiled

adjective

1. (of an egg) boiled until the yolk and white are solid
2. informal.
   1. tough, realistic
   2. cynical

Other Words From

• hard-boiledness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hard-boiled¹

1715–25; 1895–80 hard-boiled fordef 2; hard + boiled

Example Sentences

They are poached instead of hard-boiled, boasting anti-heroes with nihilistic worldviews who are nevertheless vulnerable.

From The Daily Beast

On a lighter note, your character in the film has an interesting eating habit: he eats two hard-boiled eggs a day.

From The Daily Beast

Because it lacks the stylish voice of a hard-boiled detective noir, it sometimes feels coldly industrious.

From The Daily Beast

Since this fall, though, as the governing got tough, the president has been avoiding fiction for some hard-boiled history.

From The Daily Beast

I had her on my Food Network show, Cooking Live, twice (the first time to make those famous non-boiled hard-boiled eggs).

From The Daily Beast

When growing flower plants from seeds, start them in halves of shells from hard-boiled eggs.

From Project Gutenberg

Add four hard-boiled yolks of eggs, and pour gravy all over, cover with puff paste, and bake for one hour and a quarter.

From Project Gutenberg

I'll bet you anything that Uncle Sim himself couldn't go to Athens tomorrow and order a cup of coffee and a hard-boiled egg!

From Project Gutenberg

He climbed half way, and then ate lunch, which consisted of nine hard boiled eggs.

From Project Gutenberg

Creamed hard-boiled eggs on toast; coffee; fried hominy and syrup.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• hard-nosed