• (И) В ХВОСТ И В ГРИВУ highly coll
[PrepP; these forms only; adv (intensif); fixed WO]
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⇒ to an extreme degree, as intensely as possible:
- with all one's might;
- with might and main;
- with all (everything) one's got <one has>;
- like nobody's business;
|| гнать (погонять) (лошадей) и в хвост и в гриву ≈ drive the <one's etc> horses for all they are worth;
- drive not sparing the <onefe etc> horses;
|| бить <лупить> кого и в хвост и в гриву ≈ beat s.o. good and hard;
- beat the tar <the (living) daylights etc> out of s.o.;
|| [in refer, to a hostile army, the enemy] лупить кого••и в хвост и в гриву ≈ give s.o. a good thrashing.
♦ "...Он тебя эксплуатирует в хвост и в гриву" (Трифонов 1)."...He exploits you like nobody's business" (1a).
Синонимы:
в хвост и в гриву, во всю ивановскую, интенсивно, почем зря, сильно, усиленно