die hard

present singular third person dies hard · participle present dying hard · participle past died hard · past died hard

1. idiomaticintransitiveOf a living being, to die only after a desperate struggle for life.
2. idiomaticintransitiveOf a custom, idea, etc. to be slow in changing or disappearing.

   In Scotland, though, some of the Caledonian products have died hard. They were mostly good straightforward engines.

   1954 May, John W. Grant, “A Railway Requiem”, in Railway Magazine, page 349

   2 more examples

   Already, however, in this earliest phase, new types cease to be invented; technical skill lingers on and dies hard, but inspiration has gone.

   1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 99

   Another incentive to Glaswegians to make full use of their new facilities is that road-rail competition has died hard in this area and the prevailing fare levels, even though rail rates were recently increased, are somewhat low by standards elsewhere in Britain—[...].

   1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 715