{"id":1468,"date":"2022-02-26T19:11:34","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T19:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=1468"},"modified":"2022-02-26T19:11:34","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T19:11:34","slug":"fight-tooth-and-nail-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/fight-tooth-and-nail-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight Tooth and Nail - Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Did someone accuse you of doing them wrong? If so, you could \u201c<em>fight tooth and nail<\/em>\u201d to prove your innocence. This post looks at the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n<h2>Fight Tooth and Nail Meaning<\/h2>\n<p><strong>To \u201c<em>fight tooth and nail<\/em>\u201d means that you\u2019re going to engage in physical or verbal combat with one or more people. The engagement could occur as a life-threatening physical altercation or a heated verbal exchange.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can use this saying in many circumstances. For instance, you could \u201c<em>fight tooth and nail<\/em>\u201d when defending yourself from attackers. Or, you could \u201c<em>fight tooth and nail<\/em>\u201d to protest someone accusing you of something you didn\u2019t do.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase refers to an intense situation where both parties to the engagement are doing their best to battle each other ferociously. The term can also refer to providing stiff competition in an event, such as <em>fighting tooth and nail<\/em> for the heavyweight boxing championship.<\/p>\n<p>When you \u201c<em>fight tooth and nail<\/em>,\u201d you\u2019re employing all your resources and throwing caution to the wind to secure a successful outcome.<\/p>\n<h2>Fight Tooth and Nail Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cMy company is accusing me of insubordination, and I\u2019m going to need to <em>fight tooth and nail<\/em> to prove otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy lawyer says we\u2019re going to protest the charges and <em>fight tooth and nail<\/em> to prove my innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI tried to convince Sally she\u2019s making a mistake, but all she does is <em>fight tooth and nail<\/em> to try and prove I\u2019m wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will <em>fight tooth and nail<\/em> to have the charges dropped; there\u2019s no way the DA can make them stick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWatch those two <em>fight tooth and nail<\/em> about who gets the top bunk bed tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1469\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Fight-Tooth-and-Nail-300x258.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"173\" height=\"149\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Fight-Tooth-and-Nail-300x258.jpg 300w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Fight-Tooth-and-Nail.jpg 323w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 173px) 100vw, 173px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1470\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Fight-Tooth-and-Nail2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"138\" height=\"138\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Fight-Tooth-and-Nail2.jpg 138w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Fight-Tooth-and-Nail2-120x120.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 138px) 100vw, 138px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Fight Tooth and Nail Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The origin of \u201c<em>fight tooth and nail<\/em>\u201d comes from the Latin phrase \u201c<em>toto corpore atque omnibus ungulis<\/em>,\u201d meaning \u201c<em>all the body and every nail<\/em>.\u201d The first recorded use of this expression appeared in writing in the 1560s by the author, <em>Ninian Winget<\/em>, in his book \u201c<em>Certain Tractates<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Experts think that the proverbial use of the saying means that it was around many decades or even centuries before Winget used it in his writings.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase would appear again in writing in 1850. Author <em>Charles Dickens<\/em> used the saying in his book, \u201c<em>David Copperfield<\/em>,\u201d and most experts agree that this use of the phrase is the beginning of its popularity in modern language.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What does &#039;to fight tooth and nail&#039; mean?\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4hpvg0hTAvc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Fight Tooth and Nail<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Hammer and tongs.<\/li>\n<li>Hog-wild.<\/li>\n<li>At each other\u2019s throats.<\/li>\n<li>Pulling teeth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Fight Tooth and Nail<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Submission.<\/li>\n<li>Let someone run over you.<\/li>\n<li>Let it go.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Fight tooth and nail.<\/li>\n<li>Fighting tooth and nail.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Fight Tooth and Nail Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>The phrase has nothing to do with teeth or nails. It\u2019s a way of expressing your commitment to defending yourself from physical or verbal attacks. Using the term to describe how you\u2019re fighting a toothache or a hangnail is the incorrect use of the expression. It\u2019s also inaccurate to use the plurals of \u201c<em>fights<\/em>\u201d and \u201c<em>nails<\/em>\u201d when using the saying.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Fight Tooth and Nail<\/h2>\n<p>You can use the phrase \u201c<em>fight tooth and nail<\/em>\u201d when you\u2019re referring to physical conflicts or arguments. For instance, if someone attacks you when walking home, you\u2019ll <em>fight tooth and nail<\/em> to protect your life. If someone at work accuses you of misconduct, you would protest the allegations and \u2018<em>\u2019fight tooth and nail<\/em>\u2019 to prove your innocence. The phrase refers to putting up the best defense possible, even if it means it may cost you your life or your reputation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Did someone accuse you of doing them wrong? If so, you could \u201cfight tooth and nail\u201d to prove your innocence. This post looks at the meaning and origin of this expression. Fight Tooth and Nail Meaning To \u201cfight tooth and nail\u201d means that you\u2019re going to engage in physical or verbal combat with one or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1468"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1901,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions\/1901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}