| 释义 |
▪ I. tough, a. (adv., n.)|tʌf|
Forms: α. 1 tóh, tóch, 3 tou, 3–5 touȝ, toȝ, 3–6 tow, 4 touh, towh, towȝ, toȝe, 4–5 togh, towe, 5 touȝe, towȝe, toghe, towghe, toogh, touhe, (towhhe), 5–6 towgh, toughe, 4– tough. β. Sc. 5–9 teuch, teugh, (5–6 tewch, 6 tuich, tewgh, teoch, twch, -e, twich). γ. (with inorganic -t) 3 toht, 3–4 toȝt, 3–5 touȝt, Sc. 4 tucht, 5 touȝte, tout; 6 Sc. tewcht. δ. 4–5 tuf, 7 tuffe, 7–8 tuff.
[OE. tóh:—*tǫnh:—*tanh, OTeut. *taŋχu-z; NFris. toch, tuch. From an OTeut. stem *taŋχ-, taŋg-, whence OE. ᵹe-tęnge. Cf. (with ending of -ja decl.) OS. *tâhi (MLG. tâ, tei, LG. taa, tage, tau, Du. taai); OHG. zâhi (MLG. zâhe, zæhe, zæch, Ger. zähe, zäh).]
A. adj.
1. a. Of close tenacious substance or texture; strongly cohesive, so as to be pliable or ductile; not easily broken, divided, or disintegrated; not fragile, brittle, or tender; of food, difficult to masticate.
αa700Epinal Gloss. (O.E.T.) 581 Lenta, tarda vel toch. Ibid. 614 Lentum vimen, toch ᵹerd. c725Corpus Gloss. 1207 Lentum vimen, toh ᵹerd. c1275Lay. 5865 Kerueþ ȝoure speres lang and makeþ heom toȝe an strang. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 691 Hue tilede in hur time on þe touh erþe, & whete soþliche sew. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 630 [Abraham] a calf bryngez Þat watz tender & not toȝe; bed..þat he hit seþe faste. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 317 Temperynge of glas to make þe glas tough i-now to bende. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 10877 The spere was tow & long. c1400Destr. Troy 7495 Telamon, the tore kyng, with a togh speire. c1440Promp. Parv. 498/1 Towhhe, not tendyr (A. tow, P. tough). 1552Huloet, Towgh, tenax. 1612Two Noble K. ii. v. 2, I have not seene..a man of tougher synewes. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 628 The tougher Yeugh Receives the bending Figure of a Bow. 1769E. Bancroft Guiana 209 Its body is tough and fibrous. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. v. (1842) 151 A wrought-iron mortar..would be too tough.
βc1470Henry Wallace xi. 1061 With seuir cordys..Bath scharp and tewch. 1513Douglas æneis vii. xiii. 65 Knyt wyth a teuch string. a1584Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 328 The Cherries..grewe On trimbling twistis tewch. a1758Ramsay Address of Thanks xii, That setting-dog his man, May..use a teugh St. Johnston ribbon.
γ1297Touȝt [see 8]. c1586Dunbar's Poems xxxii. 24 Na ȝowis auld, twch [Maitl. MS. tewcht] and sklender.
δa1400–50Alexander 319 Tachid in his for-top—twa tufe hornes. a1602Tuffe [see sense 4]. 1653Walton Angler xii. 223 Gentles..is a good bait..being lively and tuffe. 1665Hooke Microgr. 51 The pure parts of metals are of themselves very flexible and tuff. a1679R. Boyle Guzman ii. Dram. Wks. 1739 II. 267 Let his Skin be tuff as Wall. 1683Pettus Fleta Min. i. (1686) 3 Silver which is tuff or hard. 1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 8 Being tuffer, and more tenacious than any other.
b. Phr. tough as (old) boots or leather. Freq. fig., implying sense 4.
1843Mrs. Carlyle Lett. (1883) I. 219 The ‘cold fowl’ was..as tough as leather. 1870As tough as old boots [see boot n.3 1 b]. 1946J. B. Priestley Bright Day iv. 111 Joe Ackworth's more the type. He's as tough as old leather. 1967Listener 7 Dec. 765/1 This is no sweet old dolly... She is tough as old boots, working for a living. 1981M. Hatfield Spy Fever i. iii. 31 Colonel Theakston was..as the saying goes, as tough as old boots.
2. Of viscous consistence or nature; sticky, adhesive, tenacious; glutinous.
c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 16 Gnid ða buteran on ðæm hwetstane mid copore þæt heo beo wel toh. 1382Wyclif Gen. xi. 3 Thei hadden..towȝ cley for syment. c1440Pallad. on Husb. i. 66 Tough to glue ayein though thowe it delve. 1460J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 30 Tow erde, cleped bitumen. 1530Tindale Answ. More iv. xii. Wks. (1573) 338/1 A carte that is ouer laden..in a tough mire maketh them [the horses] stand still. 1658A. Fox Würtz' Surg. iii. iv. 228 Clear water, somewhat tuff and slimie. 1789W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 675 Tough viscid saliva. 1800Med. Jrnl. III. 154 The first class possess tough, glutinous juices.
3. fig. Stiff; severe, violent; † (sometimes) grievous, painful; of a contest, etc.: stoutly maintained, strenuous, vigorous and stubborn.
αc1205Lay. 9319, & Hamun him to strac Mid toȝen [c 1275 luþer] his mæine. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10605 Wan tueye stronge comeþ to gadere, it is somdel tou [rime slou]. a1300Cursor M. 24439 (Cott.), I sagh him dei, i sorud ai,..mi tening es sa togh. c1430Hymns Virg. 120 With wawys grete, & stormys towe. 1539Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 3 They wil giue much tougher and more ernest strokes. a1661Fuller Worthies, Warwick (1662) ii. 122 There was a tough contest betwixt the South and Northern⁓men in that university. 1865Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 4 A tough breeze from the westward. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 153 In spite of the tough racket I had had.
γ13..R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 517 Þe wrastlinge bitvene hom was somdel toȝt [rime ibroȝt]. 1400–40Ibid. App. H. 41 Þat bataile was wel towȝt [rime nouȝt]. Ibid. App. XX. 150 Sumdel þat was tout [rime nout].
4. Capable of great physical endurance; strongly resisting force, injury fatigue, etc.; not easily overcome, tired, or impaired; hardy, stout, sturdy.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 13038 Petron had go, nad Beofs be tow. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xiii. 187 Ac seedes þat been sowen and mowe suffre wyntres, Aren tydyour and tower to mannes by-hofthes. 1451J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert 73 His witte as fresch,..his mynde as tow,..as euyr þei were. 1571Satir. Poems Reform. xxv. 100 They know I am ane tuilȝeour teoch. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 258 A painefull and laborious fellowe, and such a one as is hard and toughe, and able to indure toile. a1602in Campion Art Eng. Poesie v. 18 All the glebe His tuffe hands manur'd. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 322 A Glebe that asks Tough Teams of Oxen, and laborious Tasks. 1775Sheridan Rivals i. i, There is an old tough aunt in the way. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xxi, That was what tough old Sir Evan Dhu used to say. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability, Even the..sots of England are of a tougher texture.
5. a. Having great intellectual or moral endurance; difficult to influence, affect, or impress; steadfast, firm, persistent; also, stubborn, obstinate, hardened.
c140026 Pol. Poems xxv. 521 Yef myn hert be styf and towe, To thanke the in wele and woo. 1411Ibid. x. 35 My loue to man it was so tow. 1519W. Horman Vulg. 142 b, The stewarde of the house is harde and toughe. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 965 A man of ripe yeares, but yet fierce of courage, tough in opinion. 1780Cowper Table-Talk 458 Obduracy takes place; callous and tough, The reprobated race grows judgment proof. 1848Dickens Dombey x, You'll find him tough, Ma'am. Tough, Sir, tough is Joseph. 1898Daily News 25 Jan. 6/2 As a witness before Parliamentary Committees he was what is called ‘a tough customer’.
b. Resolute in dealing with opposition; vigorously uncompromising; severe; esp. in phr. to get tough (cf. get v. 81 d). colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1906U. Sinclair Jungle i. 11 He affects a ‘tough’ aspect, wearing his hat on one side and keeping a cigarette in his mouth all the evening. 1930E. H. Lavine Third Degree ii. 17 A conscientious, or ‘tough’, [police] sergeant was assigned to a west-side precinct. 1935Wodehouse Blandings Castle vi. 151 In all villages, of course, there must..be an occasional tough egg. 1938E. Ambler Cause for Alarm vii. 116 Vagas got tough. They had a showdown. 1964in Hamblett & Deverson Generation X 10 The funniest thing was seeing the cops getting tough. If they want a fight we'll give it to them. 1972J. Symons Bloody Murder xii. 159 The behaviour of the private detective may be tough, but is based on ethical standards. 1978J. Irving World according to Garp i. 14 They initiated a get-tough policy with Jenny Fields. It was a staff decision—‘for her own good’, of course. 1984N.Y. Times 12 Feb. (Late City Final) i. 1. 35/1 My policy is to be tough but fair with the gaming industry... Federal law-enforcement officials have greater access to data on Nevada.
c. Of laws or rules: strict, inflexible. Of an institution: marked by strict enforcement of discipline.
1961in Webster s.v., When the law gets too tough the courts don't convict. 1971J. Osborne West of Suez i. 42 Father decided I needed ‘toughening up’ at a really tough school. 1977National Observer (U.S.) 22 Jan. 1/1 Reformers want a tougher code of ethics for Presidential appointees. Ibid., The environmentalists want a tougher line on automobiles that pollute.
6. a. Difficult to do, accomplish, perform, or deal with; hard, trying, laborious, troublesome.
1619Visct. Doncaster Let. in Eng. & Germ. (Camden) 133 To perswade them to hearken to a treaty would prove a tough piece of worke. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) I. iv. xv. 117 [The town of Breda] hath yeelded.., after a tough siege of thirteen months. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xiii, They should find tough work of it. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xv, ‘It will be a tough job’, growled the assassin. 1853Kingsley Hypatia xxv, [He] comforted his troubled soul with a tough problem of astronomy.
b. Hard to believe or understand; taxing credulity or comprehension.
1820W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) I. xxvii. 459 When your boy grows large enough to understand tough stories. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Acc. New Play, Tell us tough yarns, and then swear they are true. 1861P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. Afr. xii. 155 This seemed to them the toughest yarn of all.
c. Of circumstances, etc.: imposing hardship, distress, or injustice. colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1890Stock Grower & Farmer 8 Mar. 4/2 The recent blizzard..was pretty tough on range cattle. 1901S. E. White Claim Jumpers 256 I've been a little tough on you occasionally. 1929Wodehouse Mr. Mulliner Speaking i. 34, ‘I suppose it's because I'm rather an out-size and modelled on the lines of Cleopatra.’ ‘Tough!’ ‘You bet it's tough. A girl can't help her appearance.’ 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage xvii. 216 The ‘tough breaks’ in their gipsy life soon weed out the weaklings. 1942E. Paul Narrow St. xxix. 265 You know you're likely to be bumped off?.. Things are tough down there, and they won't get any better. 1959H. P. Tritton Time means Tucker (1965) i. 11 Work was scarce and wages low, and conditions all round were tough. 1962J. H. Cutler Honey Fitz xx. 291 Joe [Kennedy] made his children stay on their toes... ‘He would bear down on them and tell them, ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going.’’ 1982Church Times 30 Apr. 11/1 The life of a nun is extremely tough and involves a lot of physical hard work.
d. tough luck (colloq., orig. U.S.), hard luck, misfortune; esp. as an expression of (sometimes ironic) commiseration; also (chiefly U.S. slang) tough shit, tough stuff, or tough tiddy (tough titty).
1912Tough luck [see old top s.v. old a. 8 a]. 1932Kansas City (Missouri) Times 14 Jan. 18 It may be Mr. Hoover's tough luck to be both renominated and re⁓elected. 1934J. T. Farrell Calico Shoes 143 You have to take your chances, and if you can't swim, you sink. It's just your tough tiddy. 1944in A. M. Taylor Lang. World War II 198 Beachhead chaplains are carrying a special ‘tough stuff’ ticket these days which they issue to guys with complaints about which nothing can be done. 1946Amer. Speech XXI. 249 [Army vocabulary.] Tough shit, something which is unfortunate, but about which nothing can be done. 1958S. A. Grau Hard Blue Sky ii. 89 ‘And the whole building near to going down with the next strong wind.’ ‘Tough titty, man.’ 1971‘A. Burgess’ MF ii. 32 [I got] robbed and rumpled.—Tough titty she said with little sympathy. 1974Black World Jan. 10/2 Is Mr. Gayle exasperated by the fact that I do not give clear-cut answers to these questions? Tough luck: I do not have them. 1976New Yorker 1 Mar. 74/2 I'm awfully sorry to hear about your tough luck. 1978J. Carroll Mortal Friends ii. v. 200 Tough shit, Lady! Morning wears to evening and hearts break.
7. U.S. Of criminal or vicious proclivities. Cf. B.
1884J. Miller Mem. & Rime i. 9 And oh! but this is a tough town! 1894Stead If Christ Came to Chicago 35 An oasis of cleanliness and light in the midst of a district which was decidedly tough. Ibid. 36 One of the toughest of the toughs in the slums.
†8. Phrase. to make it tough.
a. To make it difficult; to make difficulties about doing something; to show reluctance. Obs.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10498 Þe king glosede her & þer & made it somdel touȝt, Ac þo it com to þe strengþe he nolde it graunti nouȝt. c1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 531 Lo howe goodly spake this knyght..And made it neyther tough ne queynt. c1400Rowland & O. 118 Þou may Iangill & make it toughe. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 3516 ‘Iulius’, quod he, ‘make it noght so tow [v.r. tough]’. c1470Golagros & Gaw. 1069 It may nocht mend the ane myte to mak it so teugh. 1530Palsgr. 624/2, I make it tough, I make it coye, as maydens do, or persons that be strange if they be asked a questyon... Mary, you make it toughe, Marie, vous faitez le dangereux.
†b. To be persistent or obstinate. Obs.
a1549in Laneham's Let. (1871) Pref. 151 Albeit ye mak it never sa tewch, To me your labour is in vane. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 154 Quhen thai saw Sym sic curage ta, And Will mak it sa twche.
9. quasi-adv.
†a. Vigorously, stoutly; persistently. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. xviii. (Tollem. MS.), Yf it be touȝe [ed. 1535 strongly] blowe, and þanne broke. c1470Golagros & Gaw. 704 The wyis..All to-turnit thair entyre, traistly and tewch. 1581Satir. Poems Reform. xliv. 125 Quhen as he draue and Knox held steue the pleuch, And Methuen seu adulterie so teuch. 1805A. Douglas Poems (1806) 12 At Luncarty they fought fu' teuch. 1827W. Taylor Poems (ed. 2) 98 (E.D.D.) The carle he did play sae teugh.
b. In an uncompromising, aggressive, or unyielding manner.
1943R. Chandler Lady in Lake iv. 25 You fellows [sc. cops] ever flash a buzzer—or is acting tough all the identification you need? 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 7/5 Saskatchewan's Premier Ross Thatcher, while he talks tough in private, is apparently willing to make at least a gesture.
10. As an epithet of commendation: very good, ‘great’. U.S. slang (orig. Blacks').
1937[see catch v. 35 b]. 1960R. G. Reisner Jazz Titans 167 Tough, great. 1965Mrs L. B. Johnson White House Diary 3 June (1970) 282 ‘Pat Nugent..he's just tons, Mother—he's a tough guy!’ (‘Tough’ means great, wonderful, nice, attractive, it seems.) 1972J. Hudson in T. Kochman Rappin' & Stylin' Out 422 Now my singing ain't none too tough, but I can sell some dope.
11. a. In special collocations, as tough baby, boy slang (orig. U.S.), a person given to hard-headed, violent, or lawless behaviour; tough-cake: see quots. 1881, 1896; tough guy colloq. (orig. U.S.), a person not easily injured or thwarted; freq. attrib.; tough-iron: see quot. 1686; tough movement Transformational Grammar, a transformation applied to a sentence moving words of a certain class (of which tough is one), from one part of the sentence to another (e.g. to convince John is hard: John is hard to convince); tough nut colloq. (orig. U.S.), a person difficult or dangerous to deal with; tough pitch, commercially pure copper in which the amount of cuprous oxide was reduced by poling to the value at which it would produce minimum brittleness; usu. attrib. or as adj.; tough-stone = puff-stone (puff n. 9 b).
1932E. Wallace When Gangs came to London xxiii. 234, I've had real *tough babies on their knees to me in a police station, begging me to be put in a cell. 1946Wodehouse Joy in Morning ii. 12 Scanning the roster of the females I've nearly got married to in my time, we find the names of some tough babies.
1958F. Newton in P. Gammond Decca Bk. Jazz v. 68 It is no use being censorious about the atmosphere of..*tough boys and sleezy vaudevilles in which the great blues singers were nurtured. 1974T. P. Whitney tr. Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago I. i. vii. 294 The interrogators and their tough-boy helpers dashed in from the interrogation prison.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Tough-cake, refined or commercial copper. 1896E. Durham Gloss., Toughcake, a water-cake, or white-cake, baked on the girdle. No currants used.
1932*Tough guy [see clean v. 6 b]. 1938L. MacNeice Mod. Poetry viii. 149 E. E. Cummings, the ‘tough-guy’ American poet. 1946R. Chandler Let. 30 May (1981) 75 Bogart, of course, is..much better than any other tough-guy actor... Ladd is..a small boy's idea of a tough guy. 1946H. Croome Faithless Mirror vii. 75 Tough guys with a heart of gold. 1981J. Dunning Deadline (1982) xix. 187 At the bottom of that tough-guy facade, you're just like all the rest... Scared to death.
1686Plot Staffordsh. 161 The fourth and best sorts of Iron they call *tough-Iron of which they make all sorts of the best wares.
1971P. M. Postal Cross-Over Phenomena iii. 27 There is a class of adjectives in English, hard, tough, easy, difficult, impossible, simple, which have played a prominent role in discussions of the need for a transformational grammar of English... The contrast between sentences like..a Throneberry is easy to please. b Throneberry is eager to please..is by now well known... There is a special rule defined for this class..which involves the movement of an NP out of the predicate of the complement sentence. Let us refer to this rule as *tough-movement. 1977Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 1976 XXI. 157 Consider (24), resulting from Passive, and (25), resulting from Tough-Movement, as answers to the question ‘Why was John arrested?’ (24) That he robbed a store was reported in the newspaper. (25) That he robbed a store is hard for us to believe.
1862in E. W. Pearson Lett. from Port Royal (1906) 81 There are a great many men of twenty-five to forty, ‘*tough-nuts’ many of them. 1892‘Mark Twain’ Amer. Claim. xxv. 263 His father was rather a tough nut. 1922E. O'Neill Hairy Ape viii. 83 Say, yuh're some hard-lookin' guy, ain't yuh? I seen lots of tough nuts dat de gang called gorillas, but yuh're de foist real one I ever seen. 1950Times 12 May 7/7 For the ‘tough nut’ the youth club as at present constituted offered no fold. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds x. 236 Meggie was going to be a tough nut to crack and he couldn't afford to frighten or disgust her... He'd woo her the way she obviously wanted.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Tough-pitch, see Tough-cake. 1903Engineering 4 Dec. 753/3 When the right amount of oxygen is present, the copper is said to be ‘tough-pitch’. 1949P. C. Carman Chem. Constitution & Properties Engin. Materials vii. 220 The product is a ‘tough-pitch’ copper of over 99·9% purity. 1964H. Hodges Artifacts iv. 70 Correctly poled copper, tough pitch copper, still contains a little cuprous oxide.
c1640J. Smyth Hundred of Berkeley (1885) 175 In this toune [Dursley] is a rocke of a strange stone called a Puffe stone or as some pronounce it a *tough stone.
b. In comb. (chiefly parasynthetic) with other adjs., as tough-backed, tough-hided (in quots. fig.), tough-looking, tough-metalled, tough-necked, tough-shelled, tough-skinned, tough-strung.
a1625Fletcher & Massinger Elder Brother v. i, A true tough-metall'd blade. 1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin ii. 14 A tough-back't Knave. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 644 Their solid bones, their tough-strung muscles, their strong-bounding blood. 1825Coleridge Lett., to J. Gillman (1895) 743 Nature is..tough-lived as a turtle. 1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. 132 A tall, spare, tough-looking woman, with a long bony face. 1872Browning Fifine xxxi, Unsensitive, tough-thonged In lieu of our fine nerve. 1925D. H. Lawrence St. Mawr 158 She felt a peculiar tough-necked arrogance in him. 1930R. Lehmann Note in Music vi. 249 It would take a good deal..to harm a tough-hided old hippopotamus like Uncle Tom. 1933C. S. Lewis Pilgrim's Regress vii. v. 146, I always think it is possible for a place to be too bracing. They call it the land of the tough-minded—tough-skinned would be a better name. 1964Listener 30 Apr. 731/3 A tough-hided, soft-centred, north-country, working-class dramatist.
B. n.
1. orig. U.S. A person given to rough or violent behaviour.
1866Howells Venet. Life ii, The toughs of the distant alleys. 1884J. Miller Mem. & Rime i. 9 Another ‘tough’..helped them hustle me in. 1897Outing (U.S.) XXX. 429/1 It has spoiled our football, ruined our baseball, except for the ‘tough’. 1903C. Lumholtz Unknown Mexico I. 3 A raid on the camp by some toughs in the neighbourhood. 1929‘G. Daviot’ Man in Queue iii. 25 The missing man..was, in the opinion of the Durham inspector, a tough. 1946R. Lehmann Gipsy's Baby 145 Can't think how your parents put up with it—all that gang of young toughs in and out all day. 1972E. Grierson Confessions of Country Magistrate ix. 86 Certainly the treatment of the teenage tough..is a problem to which no one has ever hazarded an optimistic answer. 1982I. Hamilton Robert Lowell (1983) ii. 16 He graduated to the status of school tough via a series of spectacular playground victories.
2. A person of uncompromising or aggressive views.
1928C. Connolly Let. July in Romantic Friendship (1975) 321, I am becoming a tough, an anglophobe, and reverting to intolerance and intellectual pride. 1931H. Nicolson Diary 21 Aug. (1966) 89 The latter asked whether Tom would join him and the Tory toughs in opposition. 1980Times 23 June 31/1 The so-called ‘toughs’ who support Mrs Thatcher's policy—like Sir Keith Joseph..against the ‘wets’ led by Jim Prior.
Add:[A.] [6.] [d.] Also ellipt., (that's) tough: ‘too bad’.
1958R. Tiernan in Quixote Spring 7 ‘Tough,’ Buzz said, ‘Listen, we're having a stag dinner.’ 1975Business Week 22 Sept. 44/1 If people do not want to save enough to meet supposed requirements..‘that's just tough’. 1986I. Banks Bridge ii. iii. 131 That's all there is to it, and if you don't like it, tough. 1989Jackie Pop Special No. 22. 11/4, I want to look good for myself and if nobody likes it—well tough.
▸ tough love n. orig. U.S. protection of a person's welfare (esp. that of a child, addict, or criminal) by enforcing certain constraints on him or her, or requiring him or her to take responsibility for his or her actions; (hence in Polit.) any policy designed to encourage self-help by restricting state benefits (freq. attrib.); (in extended use) behaviour which, though seemingly harsh or unyielding, is intended for the ultimate benefit of the recipient.
[1957R. B. Cattell Personality & Motivation iv. 135 It is a sociological pattern, varying from family to family of ‘Overprotectiveness—vs—Tough Neglect’.] 1968W. Milliken & C. Meredith Tough Love i. 15 He was the first person to demonstrate *tough love to me, and I began to respect him for it. 1976Social Work 21 319/3 Tough Love..enables the recipient to become more self-reliant and self-confident. It takes place in an egalitarian relationship where there is room for mutual give and take. 1987Toronto Star (Nexis) 21 Feb. b5 A new wave of ‘tough love’ or self-help proposals coupled with workfare, not welfare, are exciting social activists. 1988R. Lefever How to combat Alcoholism & Addiction 67 Precisely what is involved in tough love in allowing the sufferer from addictive disease to take the full consequences of his or her disease?.. Not telling lies to the employer, the courts or anyone else. Not paying off the debts of the primary sufferer [etc.]. 1995Economist 14 Jan. 49/2 The governor would also cut off welfare payments to able-bodied mothers after two years, although their children would continue to receive support. Not for nothing is Mr Wilson now being dubbed the ‘tough-love’ governor. 2000Z. Smith White Teeth xii. 317 Joyce slipped the huge garden scissors out of her apron pocket,..and placed the exposed throat of a blue delphinium bloom between two slices of silver. Tough love.
▪ II. tough, v. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).|tʌf|
[f. tough a.]
a. intr. to tough it (out): to withstand (to the end) difficult conditions or adverse circumstances without flinching. Cf. to rough (it) out s.v. rough v.1 4 b.
1830Mass. Spy 27 Jan. (Th.), Judy with whom he had toughed it three years. 1852Knickerbocker XXXIX. 26 You don't need no medicine; you'll tough it out, I dare say. 1873C. Thaxter Isles of Shoals 64 (Th.), Our brave little schooner ‘toughed it out’ on the distant ledge. 1939L. M. Montgomery Anne of Ingleside xviii. 121 She darkly opined that it would be a miracle if he toughed it out till spring. 1956T. Raddall Wings of Night (1957) xxxii. 241 She was a great ol' lady... Just kep' her chin up and..toughed it out to the end. 1982H. Lieberman Night Call xvi. 94 We'll tough it out, but sacrifices will have to be made.
b. trans. With obj. in place of it: to withstand to the end.
1974Newsweek 20 May 23/2 Everybody..was pressed into service denying that Mr. Nixon planned to quit; his daughter Julie vowed that he would tough out the impeachment process to its end in the Senate. 1979Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 27 Sept. 1/6 Mr. Sinclair signalled he would try to tough out the crisis. 1981Observer 26 Apr. 15/4 Fraser, it is assumed, will tough out this latest crisis.
▪ III. tough
obs. variant of tow v.1 |