Meaning of show one's claws | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To demonstrate one's ability to hurt another.
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see show, claw.

Equivalents

Examples

“In this event he really showed his claws by winning ten games, drawing four while losing four.”

“Perhaps if I'd been dressed in conventional clothes and carried a suitcase they would have been more sure of themselves, but right up until the time that I reached my final destination, a transit camp outside Liverpool, I was handled with kid gloves, as if they suspected my present tractability were transient and that if they made a false move I would show my claws.”

“But when Louis showed his claws, Lothar knew he meant business.”

CEFR level