armed to the teeth

Overequipped, overprepared to do battle. The phrase was popularized through a speech by English statesman Richard Cobden in 1849, in which he held that too much of Britain’s wealth was devoted to arma- ments. However, to the teeth has meant completely equipped since the four- teenth century. Libeaus Disconus (c. 1350) had it, “All yarmed to the teth.”