Citations:tough cookie

Noun: "(idiomatic) a person who can endure physical or mental hardship; a hardened, strong-willed person"

 * 1973 — "Ioannidis: Power in the Wings," Time, 10 December 1973:
 * An austere, hard-lining rightist, who lives alone, Ioannidis is described by one Washington military official as "a real tough cookie."
 * 1988 — Roger MacBride Allen, Orphan of Creation: Contact with the Human Past, FoxAcre Press (2010), ISBN 0967178339, page 277:
 * Amanda liked to think of herself as a tough cookie, hard to rattle, but this crowd got her nervous.
 * 1997 — Valerie Walkerdine, Daddy's Girl: Young Girls and Popular Culture, Harvard University Press (1998), ISBN 0674186001, page 90:
 * But here is not Barker's grim pessimism, nor a happy-ever-after, over-the-rainbow ending, but a tough cookie fighting, surviving, taking hard knocks, but keeping going and winning.
 * 2000 — Elizabeth Adler, All or Nothing, Island Books (2000), ISBN 9780440234968, page 116:
 * Reminded him of his dead wife, Imogen — from Imogen's portrait I thought she looked like a real tough cookie. Hard as nails would be the way I would describe her."
 * 2002 — Meg Cabot, She Went All the Way, HarperCollins (2002), ISBN 9780061340246, page 346:
 * After all, she was one tough cookie. She'd survived seventy-two hours on Mount McKinley. She'd survived a mine blast. She'd survived Bruno di Blase. She could survive Jack Townsend. No problem.
 * 2002 — Picabo Street (with Dana White), Picabo: Nothing to Hide, Contemporary Books (2002), ISBN 007140273X, page 6:
 * I run to Micki and give her a hug. She was racing with a broken thumb — a tough cookie, just like me.
 * 2004 — Alison Acker & Betty Brightwell, Off Our Rockers and into Trouble: The Raging Grannies, TouchWood Editions Ltd. (2004), ISBN 1894898109, page 9:
 * Having to use crutches is hard, after a very active life, including a hike in the Himalayas, but she's a tough cookie.
 * 2005 — Liz Austin, "Miers had stormy tenure at Texas Lottery Commision," Spokesman-Review, 3 October 2005:
 * "Although she's a small-framed woman, we all believed she came through the Marines and maybe ate nails for breakfast because she’s one tough cookie," said Horace Taylor
 * 2006 — Bill Norris, Turn His Other Cheek, Tate Publishing LLC (2006), ISBN 1598865196, page 193:
 * He must be some tough cookie to survive a shot to the head."
 * 2007 — Dennis J. Kucinich, The Courage to Survive, Phoenix Books (2007), ISBN 1597775681, page 87:
 * If ever there was a survivor, it was Aunt Ann. She was one tough cookie.
 * 2007 — Carole O'Malley Gaunt, Hungry Hill: A Memoir, University of Massachusetts Press (2007), ISBN 1558495894, page 129:
 * "I'm sorry it happened, Carole. You're a tough cookie. You'll forget about it.

Noun: "(idiomatic) a hardy, resilient animal or plant"

 * 1997 — Aquarium Atlas (eds. Hans A. Baensch & Rüdiger Riehl; trans. Gero W. Fischer & Shellie E. Borrer), Hans A. Baensch, ISBN 1564651142, page 726:
 * This species is a "tough cookie". It could even be caught in waters contaminated with crude oil.
 * 2001 — Sybille Engels, Basic Gardening: Everything You Need to Make Your Garden Grow, Silverback Books (2001), ISBN 9781930603769, page 134:
 * Boxwood is a pretty tough cookie. Wind, cold, wet, exhaust fumes, and industrial pollution are of no consequence.
 * 2005 — Pam Lewis, Sticky Wicket: Gardening in Tune with Nature, Frances Lincoln Limited (2007), ISBN 9780711227590, page 62:
 * Lonicera rupicola var. syringantha is a rather rambling shrug that is early-flowering and sweetly scented, and has just a few red berries for birds. This is a tough cookie and uncomplainingly puts up with the occasional violent assault necessary to keep it vaguely in bounds.
 * 2006 — Jane Bath, The Landscape Design Answer Books: More Than 300 Specific Design Solutions for Your Landscape, Cool Springs Press (2006), ISBN 9781591862505, page 152:
 * The top is so delicate, but even the smallest plants will have strong full roots that tell you that the clematis will be a tough cookie when it's established.
 * 2006 — Michael Gilbert, The Disposable Male: Sex, Love, and Money — Your World Through Darwin's Eyes, The Hunter Press (2006), ISBN 0977655237, pages 122-123:
 * Then there is that gazelle, hopping conspicuously up and down as a hungry lion approaches. Some people who study these things believe she may not be warning other gazelles: instead, she may be talking to the lion, advertising the fact that she's a tough cookie so he better pick on someone else.
 * 2006 — "Katrina Cat", Jet, 13 March 2006
 * Though its name is Cupcake, Tristan Carter's cat proved it was one tough cookie surviving on its own since Hurricane Katrina forced Carter to abandon it
 * 2009 — Annie Innis Dagg, The Social Behavior of Older Animals, Johns Hopkins University Press (2009), ISBN 9780801890505, page 78:
 * She may have been inferior in rank because of an accident of birth (the date she was born), but she was one tough cookie. Unlike other pronghorns in her age class, GY was able to survive through the summer droughts and winter storms, produce two fawns year after year, and roam the glorious wilds of Montana.
 * 2010 — Ray Rogers, The Encyclopedia of Container Plants: More than 500 Outstanding Choices for Gardeners, Timber Press (2010), ISBN 9780881929621, page 167:
 * Anything that's been around since before Tyrannosaurus rex and his buddies did their thunder-lizard thing on this planet is one tough cookie.

Noun: "(idiomatic) something troublesome or difficult to handle"

 * 2001 — Barbara Curtiss, To the Rescue: Helping Homeless Purebred Dogs, Writers Press Club (2001), ISBN 0595185592, page 30:
 * "As for her behavior, she was a tough cookie. A very complex dog. She's apparently never been housebroken, although when I took her she was just over a year old.
 * 2001 — Elaine Mercado, Grave's End: A True Ghost Story, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN 0738700037, page 5:
 * "How bad? They intimidate everyone who comes to this house. Especially his uncle. He's more than a 'tough cookie' — he's nasty and impossible, and I'm getting sick and tired of it.
 * 2002 — Encyclopedia of North American Sporting Dogs (ed. Steven Smith), Willow Creek Press (2002), ISBN 1572235012, page 63:
 * The pup that struggles constantly might be one tough cookie when it comes to training;
 * 2003 — Michelle Cunnah, 32AA, HarperCollins (2003), ISBN 0060560126, page 77:
 * And although Rachel is one tough cookie, she is not usually a bitch.
 * 2007 — Brian Lovett, Hunting Pressured Turkeys, Stackpole Books (2007), ISBN 9780811733502, page 3:
 * And if a gobbler anywhere is henned up, he's one tough cookie to kill.