Armed to the teeth

Posted by Alex Haney on June 04, 2007

Regarding your explanation of "armed to the teeth"

I recently took a bus tour of the Scotland highlands. During the tour it was explained that "armed to the teeth" referred to a river in Scotland called the Teith. There was an important trading post along the Teith which fell directly between two hostile territories, so when folks would travel to the Teith to do their business they would make sure to be heavily armed in case any conflict occurred. Thus they were "armed to the teith"

at least that's how it was explained to me...