show one's claws

English

Etymology

From the way a feline will extend its claws when attacking, as opposed to leaving them retracted so that they do not show.

Verb

show one's claws (third-person singular simple present shows one's claws, present participle showing one's claws, simple past showed one's claws, past participle shown one's claws)

To demonstrate one's ability to hurt another.
- 1949, Chess Review - Volume 17, page 7:
  In this event he really showed his claws by winning ten games, drawing four while losing four.
- 2013, Gwen Moffat, Space Below My Feet:
  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.
- 2014, Janet L. Nelson, Charles The Bald, page xiv:
  But when Louis showed his claws, Lothar knew he meant business.
Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see show,‎ claw.

单词	show one's claws
释义	show one's claws English Etymology From the way a feline will extend its claws when attacking, as opposed to leaving them retracted so that they do not show. Verb show one's claws (third-person singular simple present shows one's claws, present participle showing one's claws, simple past showed one's claws, past participle shown one's claws) To demonstrate one's ability to hurt another. 1949, Chess Review - Volume 17, page 7: In this event he really showed his claws by winning ten games, drawing four while losing four. 2013, Gwen Moffat, Space Below My Feet: 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. 2014, Janet L. Nelson, Charles The Bald, page xiv: But when Louis showed his claws, Lothar knew he meant business. Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see show,‎ claw.
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