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Tough   /təf/   Listen
adjective
Tough  adj.  (compar. tougher; superl. toughest)  
1.
Having the quality of flexibility without brittleness; yielding to force without breaking; capable of resisting great strain; as, the ligaments of animals are remarkably tough. "Tough roots and stubs. "
2.
Not easily broken; able to endure hardship; firm; strong; of objects and people; as, tough sinews. "A body made of brass, the crone demands,... Tough to the last, and with no toil to tire." "The basis of his character was caution combined with tough tenacity of purpose."
3.
Not easily separated; viscous; clammy; tenacious; as, tough phlegm.
4.
Stiff; rigid; not flexible; stubborn; as, a tough bow. "So tough a frame she could not bend."
5.
Severe; violent; as, a tough storm. (Colloq.) " A tough debate. "
6.
Difficult to do, perform, or accomplish; as, a tough job.
7.
Prone to aggressive or violent behavior; rowdyish; of people, or groups; as, a tough neighborhood; a tough character.
To make it tough, to make it a matter of difficulty; to make it a hard matter. (Obs.)


noun
tough  n.  A person who is tough (7); a ruffian; a thug; as, a cluster of neighborhood toughs hanging out on the corner.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Tough" Quotes from Famous Books



... they ugly yaller legs! Now then, owd lad, what mun we do wi'it, think'st thou? Mun I finish it off an' carry it wi' me to Jack Orme's for a marlock? Eh! the lads 'ud laugh if they see me coomin' in wi' it! I'll tell 'em I'd brought 'em a Crestmas dinner in July. My word, it's tough enough! I reckon it 'ud want keepin'; it wouldn't be ...
— North, South and Over the Sea • M.E. Francis (Mrs. Francis Blundell)
... "Tough luck!" Polly laid her hand unconsciously on his arm. "Don't give up, though. You may make good if you work awfully ...
— Polly's Senior Year at Boarding School • Dorothy Whitehill
... boldest streams it was necessary to construct suspension bridges, as they are termed, made of the tough fibres of the maguey, or of the osier of the country, which has an extraordinary degree of tenacity and strength. These osiers were woven into cables of the thickness of a man's body. The huge ropes, then stretched across the water, were conducted through rings ...
— History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William Hickling Prescott
... "You're pretty tough as a human proposition, but we can't see you suffer out here in ...
— Boy Scouts in Mexico; or On Guard with Uncle Sam • G. Harvey Ralphson
... long; shaped like a fish—plenty of sea shore, sandy, stormy, uninviting, the horizon boundless, the air too strong for invalids, the bays a wonderful resort for aquatic birds, the south-side meadows cover'd with salt hay, the soil of the island generally tough, but good for the locust-tree, the apple orchard, and the blackberry, and with numberless springs of the sweetest water in the world. Years ago, among the bay-men—a strong, wild race, now extinct, or rather entirely ...
— Complete Prose Works - Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy • Walt Whitman


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