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set in one's ways, be

set in one's ways, be idiom

Be inflexible, fixed in one's habits, as in She's too set in her ways to go out and buy a dog. This idiom uses set in the sense of “in a rigid position,” a usage dating from about 1300.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.