armed to the teeth
9
5.6
- idiom
- Informal
:
armado hasta los dientes
- The soldiers arrived at the fortress, armed to the teeth for the battle ahead.
- men armed to the teeth
- go armed to the teeth
I mean these guys were armed to the teeth blowing themselves up to kill us.
- I mean these guys were armed to the teeth blowing themselves up to kill us.
- They're all like these are like Marine driven like like armed to the teeth like ex military for sure bro.
Examples
-
And men armed to the teeth, a hundred or more, a rough-looking lot, indeed.
Fiction book (1995) -
You came on them too suddenly, armed to the teeth, making demands!
Fiction book (1991) -
These people are armed to the teeth.
-
And I bet it's armed to the teeth.
-
And they are armed to the teeth!
-
Are you armed to the teeth?
-
Everyone inside is armed to the teeth.
Fiction book (1991) -
Imagine being 22, 23 years old, best shape of your life, armed to the teeth.
-
We, in Montana, are armed to the teeth.
Blog text (9) -
The assailants came armed to the teeth, with among other things, RPG-7s.
Blog text (21)
Synonyms
986
2.7
Carrying weapons for attack or protection
3
9.2
Ready and well prepared to face a strong challenge
Having weapons for fighting or protection
Antonyms
How Armed
- Informal
9
5.6
986
2.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
arm + to + the + teeth
The word 'armed' already conveys being equipped with weapons, so a learner who knows the constituents will likely infer the general idea of being well-equipped. However, 'to the teeth' is a metaphorical intensifier whose specific contribution is not fully predictable from the literal meaning of 'teeth' (even though many languages use similar phrasing), so full comprehension typically requires some prior exposure.
Etymology
The idiom armed to the teeth may come from a strong image of being armed up to the teeth: imagine a fighter with weapons piled so high they reach his mouth. So, the phrase now means 'very well armed' or 'fully prepared'.