tough cookies

tough cookies

An interjection indicating that one has no sympathy for the situation another person is in or how that person feels about it. Sam: "When you said I'd be getting a car for my birthday, I didn't think it would be some beat-up old van like this!" Dad: "Well, tough cookies! You should be thankful to have a car at all!" A: "Ugh, I feel so horrible this morning." B: "Tough cookies. If you want to drink yourself silly, then that's the price you pay."
See also: cooky, tough
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

tough cookies

verb
See tough luck
See also: cooky, tough
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • a big fish in a small pond
  • a big frog in a small pond
  • big fish in a small pond
  • big frog in a small pond
  • frog in a small pond
  • pond
  • hanger-on
  • one man's loss is another man's gain
  • one person's loss is another person's gain
  • change off
References in periodicals archive
I know there are a few tough cookies in the entertainment industry, but it's not like they had to face real dragons, Richard.
Instead of Gregg and John politely raising eyebrows, this version on W channel on Monday sees Gordon Ramsay in his element - yelling alongside two other tough cookies.
He said the England team is tough cookies but Pakistan knows they would have to go extra miles to clinch victory.
Independent holes both, they have survived in their harsh environments for over two months without any servicing from the Baladia; tough cookies indeed.
Bolton have proved themselves to be tough cookies and a fifth away league win is not out of the question.
The overused mantra of 'personal responsibility' is all too easily twisted into 'tough cookies for you if your child gets sick and needs expensive hospitalization.' Personal anecdotes are sprinkled throughout, yet the core of The Great Risk Shift is a big-picture analysis supported by the latest statistical trends.
But - tough cookies for the rest of you - we haven't yet been able to convince them to open a shop and work tirelessly to provide those sweet circles to the masses.
"I've worked with some pretty tough cookies, but she's one that I would put at the far extreme." Already, Hillary has been fighting the perception that her nascent campaign puts cold calculation above sentiment and conviction.
Star Spangled's flavors Navy BattleCHIP, Fightin' Marine Tough Cookies & Cream, G.I.
Simon Wright reveals all in Tough Cookies (Profile Books, pounds 16.99) which focuses on culinary heavyweights Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, Heston Blumenthal and Shaun Hill.
Since these twelve men were pretty tough cookies, rigorously trained as warriors, perhaps our sexual categories and stereotypes are--can it really be?--false.
Flavors include Iraqi Road, Navy BattleCHIP, Fightin' Marines Tough Cookies & Cream, G.I.
Gravesend are proving tough cookies to crack at the moment and although they rode their luck to win at Chester in the Cup, the Fleet are simply too big at Stan James's 6-1 to repeat the trick at Barnet.
But these tough cookies never let their heads hang low for long.