breed in the bone

Verb

breed in the bone (third-person singular simple present breeds in the bone, present participle breeding in the bone, simple past and past participle bred in the bone)

1. (idiomatic, usually, personal characteristic) To establish or ingrain firmly within someone's nature.
   • "And for thy ill tongue, and worse practices, his lordship knows they are bred in the bone of thee."1825, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 30, in The Betrothed
   • "My father was a born aristocrat. I think, in some preexistent state, he must have been in the higher circles of spirits, and brought all his old court pride along with him; for it was ingrain, bred in the bone, though he was originally of poor and not in any way of noble family."1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter 19, in Uncle Tom's Cabin