go to the mat

Idioms  

1. Fight until one side or another is victorious, as in The governor said he'd go to the mat for this bill. This term comes from wrestling and evokes the holding of an opponent when both contestants are down on the mat, the padded floor-covering used in matches. It has been used figuratively since about 1900.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

go to the mat

But it appears it’s only this one retired congressman who is willing to go to the mat publicly at this point.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2024

Were there ever things that you had to really go to the mat to fight for or that actually didn't make it?

From Salon ● Nov. 29, 2023

The District’s Candy Kessel said the best pithy advice she ever received was from her boss during a performance evaluation many years ago: “Candy, you can’t go to the mat on everything.”

From Washington Post ● Aug. 16, 2021

I was looking forward to celebrating Jeremy O. Harris’ path-breaking “Slave Play,” thrillingly directed by Robert O’Hara, and was ready to go to the mat for Ivo van Hove’s multimedia reconstruction of “West Side Story.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2020

He was ready to go to the mat.

From Immortal Youth A Study in the Will to Create by Lucien Price

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