by fair means or foul

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English

Prepositional phrase

by fair means or foul

  1. By any means necessary, not excluding dirty tricks.
    Synonym: by hook or by crook
    • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, page 82:
      [Utterson] resumed; "if not by fair means, then by foul—if not of your consent, then by brute force!"

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