hard-bitten
adj1
Callous and toughened by experience.
- It was written of Henry George Ward, M.P. for Sheffield from 1837 to 1849, that "he was also much occupied with railway enterprise in the days of early speculation." This suggests a hard-bitten man of commerce, but Ward had served in the Diplomatic Service and he was Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico before retiring in 1827 at the age of 30.1960 March 23, N. Caplan, “The Railway Member of Parliament”, in Railway Magazine, page 209:
- Its author, we must remember, was above all a man of action, an elected official, a captain, a traveler, and a pragmatic intellectual, a successful combatant against warrior and disease alike, hardbitten and intimate with both privilege and disgrace, a man who suffered with and outlived most of the greatest men of his age.1996, Victor Davis Hanson, Introduction to The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to The Peloponnesian War
1 more example
- Kirsten Dunst stars as Lee, a hardbitten photojournalist who leads a group of war correspondents on a road trip towards the conflict’s front line.2024 March 30, Ellen E. Jones, “Civil War film-maker Alex Garland: ‘In the US and UK there’s a lot to be very concerned about’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN: