drive a hard bargain

drive a hard bargain (third-person singular simple present drives a hard bargain, present participle driving a hard bargain, simple past drove a hard bargain, past participle driven a hard bargain)

1. To negotiate forcefully.
   • 1949 September and October, “Notes and News: The Windsor Centenary”, in Railway Magazine, page 340:

     Both the G.W.R. and the L.S.W.R. had to pay dearly for the privilege of entering the Royal Borough, for the Prince Consort drove a hard bargain with each.

• uncompromising

• “drive a hard bargain”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “drive a hard bargain”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “drive a hard bargain”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “drive a hard bargain” (US) / “drive a hard bargain” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “drive strike a hard bargain” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.