Meaning & Analysis
To do something against a person's determined and forceful opposition. The body parts (teeth, nose, heart) symbolize the core of a person's being, implying that the action is taken despite their most vigorous and personal resistance.
Insights
Unyielding Opposition
The expression symbolizes the act of overcoming determined resistance. The body parts represent the core of a person's will, so acting 'in spite of' them means proceeding despite their most deeply felt and vigorously expressed objections.
Imposition of Will
It describes an action forced upon someone against their will. The variants specify the nature of the opposition: 'teeth' for visceral anger, 'heart' for deep-seated emotional rejection, and 'nose' for contemptuous disdain.
Force and Inevitability
The phrase asserts the inevitability of an action, implying that one party's power is so absolute that the other's objections are futile. It signifies a complete disregard for the opponent's agency.
Somatic Metaphor
The use of visceral, somatic language—'teeth', 'nose', 'heart'—grounds the abstract concept of opposition in the physical body. 'Teeth' suggests primal, aggressive resistance, while 'heart' points to a deeper, emotional opposition, reflecting a historical tendency to express psychological states through physical metaphors.
Psychology of Power
This idiom encapsulates a raw power dynamic, highlighting the psychological experience of either imposing one's will or having one's own agency forcefully overridden. It speaks to the fundamental human conflicts of control and resistance.
Historical Endurance
The phrase's long history, evidenced by its use by Caxton in the 15th century, shows its endurance. It captures a timeless aspect of human conflict: the act of forcing an outcome against strenuous, personal objection, effectively meaning 'whether you like it or not'.
Rhetorical Devices
Synecdoche
The body parts ('teeth', 'nose', 'heart') are used as a synecdoche, where a part stands for the whole person and the entirety of their will and opposition.
Imagery
The phrase creates powerful, visceral imagery of physical struggle, such as prying something from clenched teeth. This makes the abstract concept of overcoming opposition concrete and memorable.
Hyperbole
The expression is a form of hyperbole, exaggerating the nature of the conflict to emphasize the intensity of the resistance and the force required to overcome it.
Transcription
Quotations
Reynawde toke Alarde oute of his enemyes handes, mawgre theyr teeth.
Sayeng that he hathe the kynges commyssyon to suppres the house spyte of my tethe.
In despite of the teeth of them.
Satisfaction and restitution will be demaunded .. spite of their teeths.
And, in the spite of his heart, pluck the spoil out of his teeth.
In spight of thy heart thou canst not cover any thing from the Lords eyes.
He would go 'spite of all their Noses.
In spight of his teeth, to make him leave of such a humour.
And to reduce the King in spite of his heart to the necessity of a Civil War.
I make him, in spight of his Teeth, to continue in his old Pagan perswasion.
Cross References
- See St., no. 2579.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.