Dictionary

tooth and nail en · ADV

Etymology

From the Middle English phrase (with) nayles and teþ (“viciously, ferociously”, literally “(with) nails and teeth”).

Meanings

1. (figuratively) Viciously; with all one's strength or power; without holding back.
   • The women struggle tooth and nail to gain office skills so they don't have to make Jell—O or pencils forever. 2008, Laura Schenone, The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family:
   • I shall fight tooth and nail for international copyright and stage-right, […] . 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
   • 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. 2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1)
   • For a century, the two families fought tooth and nail over control of the land.
   • "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. 2023 March 8, Mel Holley, “TSSA accepts offer, but RMT sets new strike dates”, in RAIL, number 978, page 10:
   • 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. 2007, Patrick Bentley, The Birth of a Song, page 76:
   • 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. 2012 October 6, “Education: Class Warfare”, in The Economist:
   • We are striving tooth and nail to kill anything remotely suggestive of the hulas of ancient Hawaii. 2012 November 29, Christine Skwiot, The Purposes of Paradise: U.S. Tourism and Empire in Cuba and Hawai'i:

Forms

Deriveds

tooth and tong

Relateds

red in tooth and claw

Synonyms

tooth and claw · tooth, fang, and claw

Translations (20)

es con uñas y dientes (viciously) · fr bec et ongles (viciously) · pl zażarcie (viciously) · pl zaciekle (viciously) · lv ar nagiem un zobiem (viciously) · ca amb dents i ungles (viciously) · nl met hand en tand (viciously) · de mit Händen und Füßen (viciously) · no med nebb och klør (viciously) · cs zuby nehty (viciously) · el με νύχια και με δόντια (viciously) · es a capa y espada (viciously) · pt com unhas e dentes (viciously) · hu foggal-körömmel (viciously) · sv med näbbar och klor (viciously) · fi kynsin hampain (viciously) · it con le unghie e con i denti (viciously) · es a brazo partido (viciously) · pl zawzięcie (viciously) · sh zubima i noktima (viciously)