stick to one's guns

Verb

stick to one's guns (third-person singular simple present sticks to one's guns, present participle sticking to one's guns, simple past and past participle stuck to one's guns)

1. (dated) Of a gunner, to persist in faithfully attending to cannons while under fire.
   • Capitan Beaulieu-de-Long and his first lieutenant were both killed, several guns dismounted, and many of the [French frigate] crew killed and wounded. . . . Nevertheless the French stuck bravely to their guns, while the flame of the cannonade illuminated the scene beneath the canopy of smoke.1970, James Henderson, The Frigates, an account of the lesser warships of the wars from 1793 to 1815, London: Wordsworth, page 73
2. (broadly, figuratively) To maintain one’s position or viewpoint when faced with opposition.
   • Ronald had stuck to his guns and refused me to the last.1898, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 29, in St. Ives
   • "I intend to marry, of course," replied Tuppence. "That is, if"—she paused, knew a momentary longing to draw back, and then stuck to her guns bravely—"I can find some one rich enough to make it worth my while."1922, Agatha Christie, chapter 15, in The Secret Adversary