go to the mattresses

From Mario Puzo's gangster novel The Godfather (1969).

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go to the mattresses

1. (idiomatic) To go to war; to use ruthless tactics; to act without restraint.
   • 1969, Mario Puzo, The Godfather, Putnam, p.132:

     I want Sollozzo. If not, it's all-out war. We'll go to the mattresses.

   • 1988, Glen Waggoner, "Sports: Collusion Is Over, but Excess Is Back," New York Times, 18 Dec. (retrieved 21 Sep. 2008):

     They will have to go to the mattresses; that is they will have to risk a long ugly strike.

   • 2008, "Transcript: CNN LARRY KING LIVE—Interview with Senator Hillary Clinton," CNN analyst Jamal Simmons speaking, 21 Apr.:

     Now, when you're fighting Republicans . . . Democrats are all rallied around and ready to go ahead and go to the mattresses.

• go to the mat