From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhard-boiledˌhard-ˈboiled adjective 1 DFCa hard-boiled egg has been boiled until it becomes solid → soft-boiled2 informal a) not showing your emotions and not influenced by your feelings SYN tough a hard-boiled marketing executive b) hard-boiled film/thriller/fiction etc a film etc that deals with people who do not show their emotions
Examples from the Corpus
hard-boiled• a hard-boiled businesswoman• hard-boiled detective novels• A practical nurse brought old red wine, a silver tray of smoked salmon, crumbled hard-boiled egg, capers and lemon.• For example, there is the hard-boiled egg diet where four to six eggs are eaten each day.• He arrived at the picnic when even the last hard-boiled egg had been consumed.• Halve six hard-boiled eggs and lay 3 on each plate.• Stuffed hard-boiled eggs, most often called deviled eggs, can be spicy, plain or very exotic.• There were bowls of coleslaw and potato salad laced with green peas, buttered garlic rolls and hard-boiled eggs.• Blanche told him what Spittals had said and he looked at her with his brown, hard-boiled eyes.• Since then, Johnson has established himself as a novelist with the large, messy talent of a hard-boiled poet. 