/ · 1894 Brewer’s · C · Case-hardened
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Impenetrable to all sense of honour or shame. The allusion is to iron toughened by carbonising the surface in contact with charcoal in a case or closed box. It is done by heat.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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