See tooth and nail in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for tooth and nail meaning in English (5.3kB)
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"args": {
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"2": "",
"3": "(with) nayles and teþ",
"lit": "(with) nails and teeth",
"t": "viciously, ferociously"
},
"expansion": "(with) nayles and teþ (“viciously, ferociously”, literally “(with) nails and teeth”)",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From the Middle English phrase (with) nayles and teþ (“viciously, ferociously”, literally “(with) nails and teeth”).",
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"pos": "adv",
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"examples": [
{
"text": "For a century, the two families fought tooth and nail over control of the land.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "a. 1884, Charles Reade, 1887, Charles L. Reade, Compton Reade, Charles Reade, Dramatist, Novelist, Journalist: A Memoir Compiled Chiefly from His Literary Remains, Volume 2, page 229",
"text": "I shall fight tooth and nail for international copyright and stage-right, […] ."
},
{
"ref": "2007, Patrick Bentley, The Birth of a Song, page 76",
"text": "At that time, I was young in the Lord, stood firm on what I believed, and I fought tooth and nail for what I thought was right in my mind and with God.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2008, Laura Schenone, The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family",
"text": "The women struggle tooth and nail to gain office skills so they don't have to make Jell—O or pencils forever.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011 Allen Gregory, \"Pilot\" (season 1, episode 1)",
"text": "Jeremy DeLongpre: Yeah, about that Tony nomination. Richard DeLongpre: Yeah, apparently they don't nominate plays that are staged in our living room. Not over, fighting 'em tooth and nail on it."
},
{
"ref": "2012 October 6, “Education: Class Warfare”, in The Economist",
"text": "In a second term Mr Obama’s administration is likely to press ahead with its struggle to hold for-profit colleges more accountable for their results: something the industry is fighting tooth and claw.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2012 November 29, Christine Skwiot, The Purposes of Paradise: U.S. Tourism and Empire in Cuba and Hawai'i",
"text": "We are striving tooth and nail to kill anything remotely suggestive of the hulas of ancient Hawaii.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2023 March 8, Mel Holley, “TSSA accepts offer, but RMT sets new strike dates”, in RAIL, number 978, page 10",
"text": "\"Ministers cannot continue to sit on their hands, hoping this dispute will go away. Our members are fully prepared to fight tooth-and-nail for a negotiated settlement,\" RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch has warned.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Viciously; with all one's strength or power; without holding back."
],
"id": "en-tooth_and_nail-en-adv-gqTXdkKs",
"links": [
[
"Viciously",
"vicious"
],
[
"strength",
"strength"
],
[
"power",
"power"
],
[
"holding back",
"hold back"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) Viciously; with all one's strength or power; without holding back."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "tooth and claw"
},
{
"word": "tooth, fang, and claw"
},
{
"word": "with tooth and nail"
}
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "amb dents i ungles"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "zuby nehty"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "met hand en tand"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "kynsin hampain"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "bec et ongles"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "mit Händen und Füßen"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "foggal-körömmel"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "con le unghie e con i denti"
},
{
"code": "lv",
"lang": "Latvian",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "ar nagiem un zobiem"
},
{
"code": "no",
"lang": "Norwegian",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "med nebb och klør"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "com unhas e dentes"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "zubima i noktima"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "con uñas y dientes"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "a brazo partido"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "a capa y espada"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "med näbbar och klor"
}
]
}
],
"word": "tooth and nail"
}
{
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{
"args": {
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"2": "",
"3": "(with) nayles and teþ",
"lit": "(with) nails and teeth",
"t": "viciously, ferociously"
},
"expansion": "(with) nayles and teþ (“viciously, ferociously”, literally “(with) nails and teeth”)",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From the Middle English phrase (with) nayles and teþ (“viciously, ferociously”, literally “(with) nails and teeth”).",
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},
"expansion": "tooth and nail",
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"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adv",
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"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
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"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "For a century, the two families fought tooth and nail over control of the land.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "a. 1884, Charles Reade, 1887, Charles L. Reade, Compton Reade, Charles Reade, Dramatist, Novelist, Journalist: A Memoir Compiled Chiefly from His Literary Remains, Volume 2, page 229",
"text": "I shall fight tooth and nail for international copyright and stage-right, […] ."
},
{
"ref": "2007, Patrick Bentley, The Birth of a Song, page 76",
"text": "At that time, I was young in the Lord, stood firm on what I believed, and I fought tooth and nail for what I thought was right in my mind and with God.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2008, Laura Schenone, The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family",
"text": "The women struggle tooth and nail to gain office skills so they don't have to make Jell—O or pencils forever.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011 Allen Gregory, \"Pilot\" (season 1, episode 1)",
"text": "Jeremy DeLongpre: Yeah, about that Tony nomination. Richard DeLongpre: Yeah, apparently they don't nominate plays that are staged in our living room. Not over, fighting 'em tooth and nail on it."
},
{
"ref": "2012 October 6, “Education: Class Warfare”, in The Economist",
"text": "In a second term Mr Obama’s administration is likely to press ahead with its struggle to hold for-profit colleges more accountable for their results: something the industry is fighting tooth and claw.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2012 November 29, Christine Skwiot, The Purposes of Paradise: U.S. Tourism and Empire in Cuba and Hawai'i",
"text": "We are striving tooth and nail to kill anything remotely suggestive of the hulas of ancient Hawaii.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2023 March 8, Mel Holley, “TSSA accepts offer, but RMT sets new strike dates”, in RAIL, number 978, page 10",
"text": "\"Ministers cannot continue to sit on their hands, hoping this dispute will go away. Our members are fully prepared to fight tooth-and-nail for a negotiated settlement,\" RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch has warned.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Viciously; with all one's strength or power; without holding back."
],
"links": [
[
"Viciously",
"vicious"
],
[
"strength",
"strength"
],
[
"power",
"power"
],
[
"holding back",
"hold back"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) Viciously; with all one's strength or power; without holding back."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "tooth and claw"
},
{
"word": "tooth, fang, and claw"
}
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "with tooth and nail"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "amb dents i ungles"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "zuby nehty"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "met hand en tand"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "kynsin hampain"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "bec et ongles"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "mit Händen und Füßen"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "foggal-körömmel"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "con le unghie e con i denti"
},
{
"code": "lv",
"lang": "Latvian",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "ar nagiem un zobiem"
},
{
"code": "no",
"lang": "Norwegian",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "med nebb och klør"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "com unhas e dentes"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "zubima i noktima"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "con uñas y dientes"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "a brazo partido"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "a capa y espada"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "viciously",
"word": "med näbbar och klor"
}
],
"word": "tooth and nail"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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