[hahrd-boild] 
| 1. | Cookery. (of an egg) boiled 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] | to boil (an egg) until the yolk and white have become firm or solid. |
| hard-boil (härd'boil') tr.v. hard-boiled, hard-boil·ing, hard-boils To boil (an egg) in the shell to a solid consistency. [Back-formation from hard-boiled.] |
| hard-boiled (härd'boild') adj.
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