Translation Article 634: Spanish Insights. “by force” into Spanish. 20 terms of phrases that mean “by force, come hell or high water, etc."
Michael D. Powers, Ph.D., USCCI
US Certified Court Interpreter 1980 / Ph.D. Spanish Portuguese 1981 / 24 years university professor / Estimates: 12,000+ depositions, hearings, etc. / 850 trials / 3000 documents / Conference Interpreter 650 conferences
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Translation Article 634: ?Spanish Insights. “by force” ?into Spanish. ?20 terms of phrases that mean “by force, come hell or high water, no matter what, etc.”
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Translation Article 634. Spanish Insights ,“by force” into Spanish: “(Spain) a empellones, a empujones, a fuerza, a golpe de fusta, a la mala, a las malas, bajo amenaza, forzadamente, por la fuerza, por las malas, por malas, por la mala, (Spain) a la brava, (informal, Mexico) a chaleco, (familiar, Mexico) a fuercioris, (vulgar, Mexico) a güebo, (vulgar) a huevo, (euphemism) a producto avícola, (euphemism) a producto de gallina, (vulgar) a verga, (familiar) a Wilbur
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1) (Spain) a empellones
?[at shoves, at jostles, at forceful pushes]
by force
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2) a empujones
[at forceful pushes, at thrushes]
by fits and starts, in jerks, roiughly, brusquely
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3) a fuerza
[at forcefulness, at power, at punch, at robustness]
by force, forcibly, constrainedly, forcedly
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4) a golpe de fusta
[at the blow / strike of a (riding) whip, at the blow or strike of a (riding) crop]
by force, come hell or high water, with a strong arm]
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5) a la mala
[at the bad one, at the mailbag, at the deuce of spades]
by force, the hard way, come hell or high water, forcedly, constrainedly
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6) a las malas
Comment: this means the same thing as the prior example simply with the variation that “malas” is in plural instead of singular; however, its meaning in the same as in example 5 above.
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7) bajo amenaza
[under threat]
under threat, by force
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8) forzadamente
[in a forced way]
in a constrained way, by force, in a forced way, forcibly
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9) por la mala
[through the bad one, through the mailbag, through the deuce of spades]
by force, the hard way, come hell or high water, forcedly, constrainedly
Comment
Note that is identical to number 5 above with the exception of the preposition. In this case, the preposition is “por” whereas in number 5 it was “a.” During the formation of the romance languages after the fall of the Roman Empire, from 711 to 1492, declensions from Latin were replace with prepositional phrases and quite often more than one preposition was used to convey these meanings.
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10) por las malas
Comment: this means the same thing as the prior example simply with the variation that “malas” is in plural instead of singular; however, its meaning in the same as in examplea 5 ?and 9 above.
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11) por malas
Comment: another variant meaning the same thing with the dropping of the definite article (“la” or “las” respectively).
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12) (Spain) a la brava
[at angry, at furious, at irate, at enraged]
by force, daringly
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13) (informal, Mexico) a chaleco
[at vest, at waistcoat]
by force
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14) a fuercioris
[at or by way of “forcioris”]
Mexican slang meaning by force or fordibly
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15) (vulgar) a güevo
[at ball, at testicle]
come hell or high water, come what may, by force
Comment
Note the mispronunciation of “huevo” [egg, ball (testicle), etc.] as “güevo” since vulgar use of language quite often is associated with speaking informally which include mispronunciation of words. In English we have a similar vulgar term when we have someone in a tight spot or to forcibly put that person in a tight spot by saying grab him by the balls, an obvious reference to the pressure a man has when in pain because his balls have been abused.
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16) (vulgar) a huevo
[at ball, at testicle]
This idiom often means the same as the one above in 15. Sometimes it is used as an adverbial phrase meaning to obtain something at a low cost or cheaply.
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17) a producto avícola
[as a poultry / bird-rearing result]
by force, come hell or high water
Comment
This is a euphemism of somebody complying because they are chicken not to do so. Thus, we have the noun “poultry” functioning as an adjective “chicken” with reference to the figurative “product” or result.
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18) a producto de gallina
[as a product / result of (being) chicken]
by force, the hard say
Comment
This is a euphemism of somebody complying because they are chicken not to do so. Thus, we have the noun “chicken” functioning as an adjective showing fear with reference to the figurative “product” or result. Note this is the same as 17 above with the noun “gallna” (chicken or hen) instead of “avícola” (poultry).
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19) (vulgar) a verga
[at mast / sail, at penis / cock]
(euphemism) by force, grabbed by the balls
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20) (familiar) a Wilbur
[at Wilbur]
by force
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Sources
Word Magic English-Spanish Slang Dictionary 8.8.0
2020 by Word Magic Software Ltda.
Word Magic Complete and Unabridged English-Spanish Dictionary 8.8.0
2020 by Word Magic Software Ltda.