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• v  remove the fangs from
  defang the poisonous snake

• Now Nouri al-Malaki faces pressure to defang his most significant political backer, Moqtada al Sadr.
• McCain's best hope to defang Romney's powerful message of financial expertise may not lie in attempts to paint Romney as a flip-flopper, or in pumping up his own somewhat .
• The disapproval of Iraq's Shi'ite-dominated government remains a serious obstacle to any sustained American effort to defang the Mahdi Army.

News & Articles

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• Obamacare's Latest Shift Extends Old Plans to Late 2016
  White House officials announced what they called adjustments meant to “provide a smooth transition for consumers and insurers” as the Affordable Care Act takes effect. The changes are also meant to defang some of the criticisms of the health law.
  March 6, 2014 - BusinessWeek

Quotes

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• Arturo Sarukhan in International Herald Tribune
  If President Calderon's policies to roll back organized crime are to be successful, we need to defang the power of the drug syndicates to inflict damage upon our state, local and police forces,Arturo Sarukhan, the Mexican ambassador to the...
• Conrad Black in Reuters Canada
  In a second e-mail titled "epidemic of shareholder idiocy," Black told Healy: "I'm assembling materials to rebut these ridiculous charges ...... (I can) defang this issue."
• Alexander Pete Grannis in New York Times
  Pete Grannis, Mr. Spitzer's commissioner of environmental conservation, said that "it would be impossible for this governor to defang himself," given his nature.