red in tooth and claw en · ADJ
Etymology
From Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam A.H.H.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Characterized by uncaring, amoral ruthlessness or brutality, especially of a kind seen as reflecting the way of things in nature.
And he, shall he, Man, her last work, who seem’d so fair, […] Who trusted God was love indeed And love Creation’s final law— Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shriek’d against his creed— […] Be blown about the desert dust, Or seal’d within the iron hills?
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto LVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:We love nature, but nature doesn't love us. One night in the Amazon rainforest will show us that nature is red in tooth and claw.
Relateds
red-toothed · Hobbesian · tooth and nail · law of the jungle · nature of the beast · law of nature · natural law