Dic & search: toffee-nosed, hard-nosed, tough-nosed

1. toffee-nosed:

Cobuild_ADJ: If you say that someone is toffee-nosed, you disapprove of them because they have a high opinion of themselves and a low opinion of other people.[BRIT, INFORMAL ] (= stuck-up)

2. hard-nosed:

Cobuild_ADJ : usu ADJ n: You use hard-nosed to describe someone who is tough and realistic, and who takes decisions on practical grounds rather than emotional ones.[INFORMAL] (= unsentimental)

• If nothing else, Doug is a hard-nosed businessman.

3. tough nosed:

Cf. Cobuild_nose: 4. VERB.

If a vehicle noses in a certain direction or if you nose it there, you move it slowly and carefully in that direction.

• He could not see the driver as the car nosed forward.
• Ben drove past them, nosing his car into the garage.

CF:

1.

The president described Mr. Bolton as a tough-nosed reformer who will be able to shake up the scandal-plagued world body. "It makes sense to put somebody who's skilled and who's not afraid to speak his mind at the United Nations," he said.

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2.

And luck has something to do with it. The Mavericks know that their reward for having the best record in the NBA last season was very unlucky – meeting the athletic, tough-nosed Warriors in the first round. Whether or not the basketball gods smile favorably on them this year, nobody will know for about eight months. That's when most of the questions will get answered.

어쩔 땐 행운이 우리와 함께 하기도 했고요. 매버릭스가 지난 시즌 최다승을 거둔 대가는 불행이었다. 하필 처음 부터 팔팔 뛰어다니고, 겁나 거친 워리어즈를 만난 거다. 이번 시즌 농구의 신이 그들에게 미소를 지을지 아닐지는 8 개월 후 알게 될 것이다. 그땐 대부분의 의문들이 풀린 후일 거다.

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3.

Defenseman Stephen Duggan believes Melody's tough-nosed European soccer roots might be the source of his coaching philosophy. "It's a different game than when he played," Duggan said. "It used to be a lot more physical (back then)." "You're a product of your environment. That's the way I have been brought up," Melody said. "He likes tough-nosed football and likes us to play attacking football," Duggan said. "A lot of the teams we play like to pass the ball around and John wants us to get in amongst them and get them off their game."

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