Wiktionary
n. 1 (context idiomatic English) A person who can endure physical or mental hardship; a hardened, strong-willed person. 2 (context idiomatic English) A hardy, resilient animal or plant. 3 (context idiomatic English) Something troublesome or difficult to handle.
Usage examples of "tough cookie".
I wanted to proclaim it to the world the way I'd told it to Alex and Larry and Tough Cookie, and my sweet lawyer, Christine.
Flippantly described as a `tough cookie heroine', she will certainly kill in a tight corner, but is also sensitive, compassionate and the deliverer of some of the best wise-cracks in the genre`Her impending nuptials had lowered her IQ several critical points,' being a typical example.
She was one tough cookie sometimes, but that's probably what Twinkie needed.
Now mind your own business, and Skye, stop being such a tough cookie.
Barbara is a tough cookie, so even though my feet hurt like hell I dont complain as she tenderly encases the stumps in long pink satin toe shoes.
Driving up here like the original tough cookie in jeans and a red sweater, with my noncommittal answers and smart remarks, acting like two flat tires were all in a day’.