die hard
- to die while continuing to fight or offer resistance
- to take a long time to disappear; to be difficult to change
Wiktionary
verb
- Of a living being, to die only after a desperate struggle for life.
- Of a custom, idea, etc. to be slow in changing or disappearing.
“Already, however, in this earliest phase, new types cease to be invented; technical skill lingers on and dies hard, but inspiration has gone.”
“In Scotland, though, some of the Caledonian products have died hard. They were mostly good straightforward engines.”