tooth and nail
adverb
with all one's resources or energy; fiercely: We fought tooth and nail but lost.
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Nearby words
- tooshie,
- toot,
- toot one's own horn,
- toot sweet,
- tooth,
- tooth ax,
- tooth bud,
- tooth chisel,
- tooth decay,
- tooth fairy
Origin of tooth and nail
First recorded in 1525–35
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for tooth and nail
Imperiled as he is, he cannot recreate the tooth-and-nail desperation that fueled Shackleton.
Polar Explorer vs. Reality TV Crew: Tim Jarvis in the Footsteps of Shackleton|Darrell Hartman|January 12, 2014|DAILY BEASTWhen I do, it will be a tooth-and-nail fight, and I must be equipped with facts, not theories.
The Crevice|William John Burns and Isabel Ostrander
tooth and nail
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.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.