written in stone
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written in stone
Permanently fixed or firmly established; incapable of being changed. Often used in the negative. The deal isn't yet written in stone, but we're confident it will go ahead as hoped.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
in stone, cast/carved/written
Completely set, unchangeable. This phrase is often put in the negative—something is not cast in stone. It alludes to sculpture, where to cast means to pour and harden a material into a final form, and possibly also to the epitaphs engraved on gravestones. The first usage dates from the early 1500s. Most often it appears in such statements as, “Of course we can change it; this proposal is not cast in stone.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer