arm to the teeth

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

arm to the teeth (third-person singular simple present arms to the teeth, present participle arming to the teeth, simple past and past participle armed to the teeth)

1. (idiomatic, informal, transitive, intransitive) To equip thoroughly with weapons.
   • 1809, Washington Irving, chapter 33, in Knickerbocker's History of New York:

     There, on the ramparts of the forts, stood Nicholas Koorn, armed to the teeth, flourishing a brass-hilted sword.

   • 1910, H. Rider Haggard, chapter 15, in Queen Sheba's Ring:

     Who can murmur sweet nothings to his adored when two soldiers armed to the teeth have been instructed never to let him out of their sight?

   • 2009 May 25, Michael Schuman, “Building Bridges to China”, in Time:

     Both sides armed the Taiwan Strait to the teeth, turning it into one of Asia's most dangerous military flash points.

Derived terms

• armed to the teeth (adjective)

Translations

to equip with weapons

• Azerbaijani: təpədən dırnağa kimi silahlandırmaq
• Catalan: anar armat fins a les dents
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 武裝到牙齒／武装到牙齿 (wǔzhuāng dào yáchǐ)

• Danish: bevæbnet til tændene
• Dutch: tot de tanden gewapend
• Finnish: aseistaa hampaisiin saakka
• French: armer jusqu’aux dents
• German: bis an die Zähne bewaffnet sein (de)
• Greek: οπλίζω σαν αστακό (oplízo san astakó), οπλισμένος σαν αστακός (oplisménos san astakós, literally “armed like a lobster”)
• Hebrew: לחמש מכף רגל ועד ראש, לחמש עד האוזניים, לחמש עד השיניים, לחמש עד הצוואר
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: væpnet til tennene

• Polish: uzbroić po zęby
• Portuguese: armar até os dentes
• Romanian: înarma până în dinți
• Russian: вооружи́ть до зубо́в pf (vooružítʹ do zubóv)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: наоружати до зуба pf

  Roman: naoružati do zuba pf

• Spanish: armar hasta los dientes
• Swedish: beväpnad till tänderna (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked‌: "moved to lemma form"

• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} do zob oborožen

See also

• loaded for bear