What is "toughen"

Usage examples of "toughen".

But there has been no toughening and thus no compromise of sensitivity.

Some, the leaner ones, those who had been toughened by forced labor in landfill mines and oil plantations, seemed less worn by the flight.

It carries the additional bonus of reducing tension and, if done on a regular basis, toughens the exerciser, making him more resilient and better able to handle stress.

Expensive jewellery, toughening iron for ploughshares, knives and the like, fancy decorations for those who can afford them, medicines .

Orchids, old gold and violet, cling to the rocks with the white claws of the sea snatching at their toughened roots, and beyond the extreme verge of ferns and orchids on abrupt sea-scarred boulders are the stellate shadows of the whorled foliage of the umbrella tree, in varied pattern, precise and clean cut and in delightful commingling and confusion.

Toughened, war-hardened, and battle-eager Tred had thought to serve as emissary between the two fortresses and in the ultimate irony, Nikwillig had dissuaded him.

The sustained regimen, regular recitation, erect posture, daily walk, persistent exercise, and unintermitted labor that toughens a boy, and makes a man of him, can only be partially applied to a girl.

Lord Vist had toughened my skull, but the blow left me too stunned to resist the arms that grabbed and hoisted me to my feet, pushing me against a wall.

But the stolid tree--a bloodwood, all bone, toughened by death, a few ruby crystals in sparse antra all that remained significant of past life--afforded but meagre hospitality to the, soft lead.

His hands were aching from the climb down a backstay, and were red from unused exertion, but beginning to toughen up.

Maybe he was marching some new recruits to toughen the bastards, not that the skinny little brutes needed any toughening, but it was uncivil of Sullivan not to warn Crosby of his coming.

The brood mind grew a corniculum automatically, though the toughened outer membrane would be of little help if the seedship was breached.

Hamid-Jones remembered that he had been born under Mars gravity and that despite the toughening stay at Alpha Centauri and the weeks aboard high-G blowtorches, he was laboring under a weight that was almost three times what was normal for him.

Second, to protect Viagra super-profits, Pfizer needed to prevent a toughening of UK products liability law demanded by the European Union.

These were all absolutely gas tight and filled with hydrogen, and the entire aerostat was kept at any level by means of a long internal balloonette of oiled and toughened silk canvas, into which air could be forced and from which it could be pumped.