What it means
If someone's hard as nails, they're seriously tough and don't spook easy. You say it for people who can take pain, pressure, heartbreak, or a proper knock and still keep trudging on without folding. It can mean physically tough, mentally tough, or both at once.
Usage examples
"You will not see him cry, that lad is hard as nails."
"Gran is hard as nails, she carried on gardening the day after her operation."
"My aunt in Dundee is hard as nails, raised four children alone after her husband left in nineteen seventy-eight, worked nightshifts at the factory until she retired at sixty-five, and still walks the dog three miles every morning before the rest of the family is even awake."
"The new manager at the warehouse is hard as nails, fired three lazy supervisors in her first week on the job, restructured the entire operation in a month and a half, and the team productivity numbers have not stopped climbing since her first Monday morning briefing."
"She did twelve hours in A&E, came home, had a brew, and went straight back the next morning. Woman's hard as nails."
Where it comes from
This old English phrase is recorded from the 1500s. It uses nails as the picture because iron nails are hard, sturdy, and built to take a battering. So if someone's hard as nails, they're seen as unbending, resilient, and very hard to break, in body, mind, or both.
Other ways to say it
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