Talk:dur comme fer

RFV discussion: November 2020–November 2022

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dur comme fer

French. Is it ever used with other verbs than croire? 212.224.234.45 20:15, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

Somewhat ironically, although the usex at dur comme fer, actually a quote from a book, contains a form of the verb croire, the verb governing dur comme fer in the example is vouloir. Its use, other than in the fixed collocution croire dur comme fer, is defined in a 19th-century dictionary (by an example in which it is a predicative adjective) as meaning “having a very great hardiness“.^[1] Here are some book uses: a 16th-century use; an 18-th century use; a 19-th century use (rather SOP here); and a 21th-century use. Here are some stand-alone uses in news sources: [2]; [3]; [4].  --Lambiam 10:40, 4 November 2020 (UTC)

Lambiam answered the question.

I'd say that phrase is an adverbial use of hard as nails, tough as nails, steely-eyed, etc. —Jerome Potts (talk) 22:22, 2 October 2022 (UTC)

Passed, then. - -sche (discuss) 17:53, 6 November 2022 (UTC)