Engage in vigorous combat or make a strenuous effort, using all one’s resources. For example, I’m going to fight tooth and nail for that promotion. This expression, with its allusion to biting and scratching, was first recorded in 1576.
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Where did the saying tooth and nail originate?
Origin of Fight Tooth and Nail
This idiom dates back to the 1500s and comes from the idea of fighting like a wild beast. Animals don’t have weapons, so they fight with everything that they’ve got: their teeth and nails. Charles Dickens famously used the phrase in David Copperfield (1850): I got at it tooth and nail.
What is the meaning of tooth and nail phrase?
phrase. If you fight tooth and nail to do something, you do everything you can in order to achieve it. If you fight something tooth and nail, you do everything you can in order to prevent it. He fought tooth and nail to keep his job.
Is it tooth and nail or to the nail?
tooth and nail, fight/with
Fight vigorously, with all one’s resources. The analogy to biting and scratching was drawn by the sixteenth century and has been used ever since for fierce contention or, by extension, effort. Dickens used it in David Copperfield (1850): “I go at it tooth and nail.”
What is the phrase tooth and?
Definition of tooth and nail
: with every available means : all out fight tooth and nail.
What does it mean keep your cool?
to remain calm
If you keep your cool in a difficult situation, you manage to remain calm. If you lose your cool, you get angry or upset. [informal] She kept her cool and managed to get herself out of the ordeal.
What does nature red in tooth and claw mean?
Having, involving, or employing merciless and possibly cruel tactics during conflict or competition.
What is the idiom of black and blue?
If you say that someone is black and blue, you mean that they are badly bruised. The next day I was black and blue and couldn’t move my neck. Bud’s nose was still black and blue. See full dictionary entry for black.
What is the meaning of idiom bag and baggage?
with all possessions : completely
Definition of bag and baggage
: with all possessions : completely He got rid of the visitors, bag and baggage.
What is the meaning of the idiom a man of straw?
man of straw. noun. a person of little substance. Also called: straw man mainly US a person used as a cover for some dubious plan or enterprise; front man. a man who cannot be relied upon to honour his financial commitments, esp because of his limited resources.
What does to coin a phrase mean?
idiom humorous. something you say before using an expression that has been very popular or used too much: I was, to coin a phrase, gobsmacked! SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.
What does nail mean?
1 : a tough covering protecting the upper end of each finger and toe. 2 : a slender pointed piece of metal driven into or through something for fastening. nail. verb. nailed; nailing.
What is the meaning of the idiom in high spirits?
very happy and excited
Definition of in high spirits
: very happy and excited All the children were in high spirits on the last day of school.
What does met his Waterloo mean?
to be defeated
Definition of meet one’s Waterloo
: to be defeated The governor finally met his Waterloo in the last election.
What is the meaning of the idiom fair and square?
phrase. If you say that someone won a competition fair and square, you mean that they won honestly and without cheating. There are no excuses. We were beaten fair and square.
What is the meaning of idiom be the backbone?
The idiom ‘To the backbone’ means in every manner or respect. Example: The fellow is stubborn to the backbone; he won’t even listen to my plan the whole way through!
What is the meaning dead to the world?
sleeping very deeply
idiom. informal. : sleeping very deeply. You can’t wake him up. He’s dead to the world.
What does it mean bide your time?
to wait for
1 past tense usually bided : to wait for —used chiefly in the phrase bide one’s time is biding his time before asking for a raise. 2 archaic : withstand two men …
What does get back at others mean?
Definition of get back at (someone)
informal. : to do something bad or unpleasant to (someone who has treated one badly or unfairly) After he lost his job, he vowed that he would find a way to get back at his old boss.
Who coined the phrase nature red in tooth and claw?
It is often used to refer to the naturally violent state of animals in the wild. The term red in tooth and claw refers to the blood found on the teeth and claws of animals when they have caught their prey and was first coined by the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson in one of his famous works In Memoriam A.H.H.
Who said red in tooth and claw?
Tennyson
Nature, red in tooth and claw. Although the phrase “tooth and claw” is commonly ascribed to Tennyson, it was already in use. For example, from The Hagerstown Mail in March 1837: “Hereupon, the beasts, enraged at the humbug, fell upon him tooth and claw.”