Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) a mean, unpleasant person; thus get the hard-nose, to become angry or irritated.

1928		Sat. Eve. Post 200 49/1: Now who would ever have thought it of that old hard-nose?
1938		Canad. Nat. Mag. 24 32/4: He may have a hard nose for a while, but he'll get over it.
1939		P.G. Brewster ‘Folk “Sayings” From Indiana’ in AS XIV:4 262: One who is irritable or angry ‘got up on the wrong side of the bed, ‘got out of bed hindside before,’ ‘has his back up about something,’ ‘had been rubbed up the wrong way,’ ‘has a hard nose,’ is ‘mad as a wet hen,’ ‘mad as a hornet,’ ‘mad as fire,’ or ‘mad as Tucker’.
1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: hard nose . . . refers to an officer who doesn’t get along with enlisted men.
1954		J. Blake letter 2 May in Joint (1972) 51: It’s amazing, and acutely disconcerting, the cordiality I get from the hardnoses because of the association with J.P.
1966		D. Westlake Busy Body 112: You gonna be a hardnose? Give me an address in Queens.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 195: Like most hardnoses Willy was a pushover when it came to dealing with flighty girls with ravishing smiles.
1990		R. Campbell Sweet La-La Land (1999) 169: You want me to pull the plug on him on a D and D? You want me to look like I’m a hard-nose?
2000		E.R Rosen A Daughter’s Lament 13: I guess I am being a hard-nose. However, being a hard-nose comes with the territory.

2. (Aus.) an indefatigable person, who will struggle on no matter what the odds.

1968		‘Richard Hooker’ M*A*S*H (2004) 197: Impaled on the horns of the kind of trouble only hardnoses can survive.
1977		E. Torres Q&A 78: Reilly, the hard-nose, found himself searching the heavens for some sign of divine intervention.
1986		R.G. Barrett Real Thing 43: Len was a bit of a hard-nose and [...] one extra smart cop.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 191: The ability to persevere and to battle on against all adversities is a much-admired Australian characteristic reflected in terms like [...] hardnose for those who can both deal it out and take it.
2012		J. Díaz This Is How You Lose Her 180: His back and buttocks are so scarred up that even you, Mr Hard Nose, can’t look at them.

3. a cautious gambler who neither wins nor loses large amounts.

1972

C. Bukowski Erections, Ejaculations etc. 101: I am a ‘hard-nose’; that is, any given day at any track you just ain’t gonna take much money from me; on the other hand I ain’t gonna make much.