get one's claws into
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To gain control or influence over someone
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
đạt được quyền kiểm soát hoặc ảnh hưởng đối với ai đó
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: an animal grasping with claws
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She finally got her claws into the company's CEO
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “get one's claws into” mean?
To gain control or influence over someone Literally: an animal grasping with claws
Is “get one's claws into” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.