Hard-nosed

This has a special attraction for politicians, who are forever taking a “hard line” so that the “thrust” of their arguments will reach their targets with plenty of “clout.” Well, hard-nosed originally meant little more than stubborn or insistent. Now it seems to have added an aspect of pugnacious determination to see a project to successful completion – with delicacy and finesse cast to the winds. It also has a much older meaning of a dog deficient in sense of smell and hence, useless for hunting. In football, before the advent of the face mask, a hard-nosed player was one who didn’t flinch at getting his nose right into the action.