Dictionary

tooth and tong en · ADV

Etymology

Blend of tooth and nail + hammer and tongs.

Meanings

1. Presenting a vigorous and unified opposition.
   • Mrs. Meier, wife of the under sheriff at the jail, turned against me. And Duane West is one of my bitterest enemies. And they were sort of working tooth and tong. 1973, Denis Brian, Murderers and Other Friendly People:
   • The old guard is fighting his economic reforms tooth and tong. 1991, Richard Herman, Firebreak, page 71:
   • In 1935, I think it was, when a number of Senators and Congressmen introduced grain alcohol bills similar to the one Senator Mundt and I have introduced—but we are told those bills were fought tooth and tong by the oil interests, hence never became law. 1957, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, Agricultural Situation and Farm Programs:

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