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)

1. 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.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see show,‎ claw.

Translations

to demonstrate one's abilities

• Finnish: näyttää kyntensä