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

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

“I will go to the mat to get rid of this cap,” Pollet said.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 9, 2023

“If I needed a lawyer to go to the mat for me, that’s the lawyer I would choose,” he said.

From New York Times ● Sep. 19, 2022

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

Sure I am, but I have to go to the mat when they commence to dish out this Emporia humor.

From The Sorrows of a Show Girl by McGaffey, Kenneth