Dictionary

show one's claws en · VERB

Etymology

From the way a feline will extend its claws when attacking, as opposed to leaving them retracted so that they do not show.

Meanings

1. To demonstrate one's ability to hurt another.
   • Perhaps if I'd been dressed in conventional clothes and carried a suitcase they would have been more sure of themselves, but right up until the time that I reached my final destination, a transit camp outside Liverpool, I was handled with kid gloves, as if they suspected my present tractability were transient and that if they made a false move I would show my claws. 2013, Gwen Moffat, Space Below My Feet:
   • But when Louis showed his claws, Lothar knew he meant business. 2014, Janet L. Nelson, Charles The Bald, page xiv:
   • In this event he really showed his claws by winning ten games, drawing four while losing four. 1949, Chess Review - Volume 17, page 7:
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see show, claw.

Forms

Translations (1)

fi näyttää kyntensä (to demonstrate one's abilities)