cracking hardy

Verb

crack hardy (third-person singular simple present cracks hardy, present participle cracking hardy, simple past and past participle cracked hardy)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, idiomatic, slang) To keep a brave face, to suppress one's feelings, to grin and bear it.
   • He smiled gratefully to her for 'cracking hardy', pretending she was not tired when her back ached and her head swayed giddily on the long days, driving, and gazing through dust and blinding sunshine, over the ever-widening ever-distancing plains.1929, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Coonardo, page 139