sharp-elbowed

Clegg said he wanted to end a culture in which individuals could get a foot in the door in firms and industries because of "who your father is", and which was dominated by the "sharp-elbowed middle classes".

More than 800 unpaid interns hired at arts and sports groups in two years

Parents, just as sharp-elbowed as any in north London, were placing their children with relatives to sneak into a decent catchment area.

How the teachers of hope I met in the Congo were brutally killed

The president is a sharp-elbowed basketball player himself with both academic and athletic cred.

Roger I. Abrams: College Football Is a Mess

The past decade has seen something remarkable happen: sharp-elbowed bankers and gullible politicians in America and Britain have turned basic foodstuffs into something to bet on.

Bankers and politicians have turned food into a betting game | Aditya Chakrabortty

In Payne's hands, Election transcended its roots as the sharply observed tale of a high-school president contest, to become an allegoryfor American politics, in which the sharp-elbowed battle the stupid andmanipulated.

Election: No 14

The blustering, sharp-elbowed chairman, Charles Bluhdorn, had no experience in the movie business.

L.A. Confidential

The cracks in Cisco's switching business are being driven by increased price and technology competition from sharp-elbowed rivals such as H-P and Juniper Networks Inc. Juniper has expanded its share of the network-switching market to around 2.3% from nothing in early 2008, according to Dell'Oro.

Cisco's Clients Weigh Options

Investment banking can be a sharp-elbowed business, where allegiances and assignments are routinely coveted and then dropped for better opportunities.

Goldman Switch Irks Clearwire Directors

This charming dollop of a book is filled with amusing details about family dynamics, Chinese traditions and a neighborhood so lively and sharp-elbowed that people learned to protect their ribs while they shopped.

Discovering the Past's Perils and Pleasures

Clegg will say: For too long, internships have been the almost exclusive preserve of the sharp-elbowed and the well-connected.

Nick Clegg's social mobility scheme targets unpaid internships