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breaking; capable of resisting great strain; as, the ligaments of animals are remarkably tough. "Tough roots and stubs. " Milton.

See Tough-pitch (b).

The ruddy duck. [ Local U.S. ]

Copper so reduced; -- called also tough-cake.

To grow or make tough, or tougher.

Tough in a slight degree.

In a tough manner.

The quality or state of being tough.

d juice is the pulque of the Mexicans; distilled, it yields mescal. A strong thread and a tough paper are made from the leaves, and the wood has many uses.

iron, steel, or other metal, for the purpose of rendering it less brittle; to temper; to toughen.

The tough, elastic wood of the ash tree.

A nearly cubical block of some tough stone, esp. granite, used as a material for street pavements. Its usual diameter is 5 to 7 inches.

Easily broken; apt to break; fragile; not tough or tenacious. Farewell, thou pretty, brittle piece Of fine-cut crystal. Cotton. Brittle silver ore, the mineral stephanite.

A hard tough alloy of tin, copper, and iron, which can be used for guns.

or waves; a stroke; an adverse action; an affliction; a trial; adversity. Those planks of tough and hardy oak that used for yeas to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay. Burke. Fortune's buffets and rewards. Shak.

ed with pointed scales. It grows in the Middle and Western United States, and its wood is tough, close-grained, and durable. -- Bur reed (Bot.), a plant of the genus Sparganium, having long ribbonlike leaves.

A tuft of long, tough filaments which are formed in a groove of the foot, and issue from between the valves of certain bivalve mollusks, as the Pinna and Mytilus, by which they attach themselves to rocks, etc.

A tough old goose; hence, coarse, bad food of any kind. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

A tough, white, aromatic resin, or gum, obtained from different species of the Laurus family, esp. from Cinnamomum camphara (the Laurus camphara of Linnæus.). Camphor, C10H16O, is volatile and fragrant, and is used in medicine as a diaphoretic, a stimulant, or sedative.

Of or pertaining to cartilage; gristly; firm and tough like cartilage.