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1870 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 339 The result was four to one in my lord's favour; and, ramrod-backed as he was, he rode a steeple-chase very fairly.

1934 E. Wharton Backward Glance (1936) ii. 27 This aunt, whom I remember as a ramrod-backed old lady compounded of steel and granite, had been threatened in her youth with the ‘consumption’.

1988 A. Brookner Latecomers iii. 37 Aunt herself was handsome, ramrod-backed, even elegant.

2013 P. Bill Planet Property ix. 192 In the corner, aged seventy-four, sat the still ramrod-backed—and still influential—Orchard-Lisle.