Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to withstand abuse or a bad situation.

1828		Burlington Wkly Free Press (VT) 15 Feb. 3/4: After some hard pectoral struggles, [he] said, he ‘meant to tough it out, if possible’.
1837		Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) 21 Mar. 2/2: Now comes the ‘tug of war’. The little grey filley [sic] Naked Truth, and Extio were left to ‘tough it out’.
1839		N.O. Picayune 5 Mar. 2/1: The markets afford good lodging, and every bale of cotton furnishes a bed; but, on such a night as last we hardly know how they can ‘tough it out’ .
1852		Knickerbocker (N.Y.) xxxix (Jan.) 26: You don’t need no medicine; you’ll tough it out, I dare say.
1866		S. Smith Way Down East 231: We toughed it out five or six weeks.
1873		C. Thaxter Isles of Shoals 64: Our brave little schooner ‘toughed it out’ on the distant ledge.
1887		E. Custer Tenting on the Plains (rev. edn 1895) 333: Toughed it out here two years.
1909		J.W. Carr in ‘Word-List From Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:v 405: tough it out, v. Endure it to the end. ‘It is hard work, but I’ll tough it out some way or other.’.
1941		A. Lomax Mister Jelly Roll (1952) 227: The middle of February found Jelly still toughing it out in Washington, still trying.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 255: ‘Tough it out’ was Johnny’s motto.
1967		(con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 144: I went on eating, trying to tough it out.
1976		N. Thornburg Cutter and Bone (2001) 298: He tried to tough it out. He tried to act as if nothing essential had changed.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 168: Rhett, tough it out now, boy.
1984		P. Corris ‘Mother’s Boy’ in Heroin Annie [e-book] A dog barked across the street as I swung myself over the locked gate, but I toughed that out.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 28: He got hit with excessive-force complaints and toughed them out.
1999		J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 49: One time in his life he ever toughed anything out.
2012		(con. 1954) ‘Jack Tunney’ Tomato Can Comeback [ebook] I don’t cater to sissies at my gym. They learn to tough it out.
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] j[J]unkies aren’t great at ‘toughing things out’.