war to the knife

Calque of Spanish guerra al cuchillo (“extremely fierce or relentless war”).^[1]

war to the knife (countable and uncountable, plural wars to the knife)

1. Mortal combat; fighting to the death.
   • 1938 March, Ian D[uncan] Colvin, “The Case for Franco”, in The Atlantic Monthly‎^[1], volume 161, number 3, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 October 2024, page 367, column 1:

     And not civil war as we knew it in England and you knew it in America, waged within certain limits of decency and humanity by disciplined forces, but civil war to the knife, altogether ferocious and anarchical, as if hell itself were let loose, as if a beautiful face were suddenly distorted with fury to the likeness of a fiend.

   • 1944, Charles M[aurice] Wiltse, John C. Calhoun: Nullifier, 1829–1839‎^[2], Indianapolis, I.N.; New York, N.Y.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., pages 99–100:

     By April [Amos] Kendall, [William B.] Lewis, and the others of the inner circle had dropped their subscriptions to the Telegraph, and it was indeed war to the knife.

   • 2003, Andrew Roberts, Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership‎^[3], London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, →ISBN, pages xxv–xxvi:

     Wars of democracy have tended to become wars to the knife; as a modern secular religion, democracy requires unconditional surrender.

   • 2024 February 22, David Smith, “Britain's 'deep state' thwarted my plans, Liz Truss tells US far-right summit”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[4], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 February 2024:

     On Wednesday [Steve] Bannon said: "The administrative and deep state after President Trump wins, starting on the afternoon of the 20th of January, every day will be like Stalingrad. It will be a war to the knife."