adamantine

[Lat. adamant in us; Gr. ἀδαμάντινος ( adamant i nos ) = hard as steel, adamantine.) Very hard. ( Rider: Dict., 1640.) 1. Lit.: Made of adamant. "Wide is the fronting gate, and raised on high With adamantine columns, threats the sky." Dryden: Virgil Encid vi. 745. 2. Fig .: Which cannot be broken. "With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomle perdition; there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire." Milton: P. L., 1. 48. In poetry it is not always easy to decide whether the word adamantine is used in a literal or figurative sense.