tooth and nail

adverb

1. with all one's resources or energy; fiercely:

   We fought tooth and nail but lost.

tooth and nail

1. To fight “tooth and nail” is to fight with the intensity and ferocity of a wild animal: “The resistance forces fought the invading troops tooth and nail.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of tooth and nail¹

First recorded in 1525–35

Example Sentences

This award is fought over tooth-and-nail each year by political consultants from sea to shining sea.

From The Daily Beast

Imperiled as he is, he cannot recreate the tooth-and-nail desperation that fueled Shackleton.

From The Daily Beast

When I do, it will be a tooth-and-nail fight, and I must be equipped with facts, not theories.

From Project Gutenberg

And the boy broke into a volley of oaths and flung himself once more tooth-and-nail on Reginald.

From Project Gutenberg

To be rolling at her feet, locked in a literally tooth-and-nail struggle with Ortega would have been odious.

From Project Gutenberg

Anyhow, as such I am opposed tooth-and-nail to the iniquity of the existing Competitive System.

From Project Gutenberg

At the door of a thatched mud hut there was a fierce tooth-and-nail contest between two pigs.

From Project Gutenberg