fight one's corner

English

Alternative forms

• fight for one's corner

Pronunciation

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Verb

fight one's corner (third-person singular simple present fights one's corner, present participle fighting one's corner, simple past and past participle fought one's corner)

1. (chiefly UK, idiomatic) To vigorously promote or defend one's interests, views, etc.
   • 1896, The Parliamentary Debates of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. XLIII, p. 866 (Google preview):

     The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Trinity College, who had fought his corner well for the landlords, must know the heavy disabilities under which the tenants referred to suffered through no fault of their own.

   • 1996 September 10, Charlie Bain, Louise Jury, “Swiss asked: 'Where is that stolen gold?'”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 11 August 2017:

     Mr Kornhauser could now have the British Government helping to fight his corner. Malcolm Rifkind, the Foreign Secretary, is to put pressure on the Swiss government.

   • 2003 March 25, Alan Cowell, “Russian Billionaire Is Arrested in London”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 August 2017:

     Mr. Berezovsky left Russia for a relatively opulent self-exile. . . . [H]e estimated his fortune at some $3 billion and he has enlisted high-powered public relations and law firms to fight his corner.

   • 2010 December 1, Tom Brady, “Combative reformer who relished fighting his corner”, in Independent.ie, Ireland, retrieved 11 August 2017:

     Dermot Ahern established himself as a reforming and combative minister during his two years holding the Justice portfolio. . . . [H]e relished fighting his corner with successive opposition spokesmen.

   • 2013, Ian McDonald, chapter 62, in Chaga, →ISBN:

     The gull stabbed and weaved. The big crab held up its fighting claws and circled. Suddenly all the birds in the tide water flew up at once in a clatter of wings. The crab fought his corner.

References

• “fight your corner fight somebody s corner” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “fight your corner” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “fight your corner”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.