by fair means or foul

English

Prepositional phrase

by fair means or foul

1. By any means necessary, not excluding dirty tricks.

   Synonym: by hook or by crook

   • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, page 82:

     [Utterson] resumed; "if not by fair means, then by foul—if not of your consent, then by brute force!"

References

• “by fair means or foul”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “by fair means or foul”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “by fair means or foul” (US) / “by fair means or foul” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “by fair means or foul” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.