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This phrase appears early in L'amica Geniale. I take it to mean something like let's see who comes out on top this time or who breaks first this time, but I'm mainly just guessing from context.

Dictionaries tell me that spuntare by itself can mean break the point off or appear or make a check mark, but the use here seems idiomatic.

What's a reasonable English translation?

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    Welcome on ItalianSE!!
    – abarisone
    Jun 17, 2019 at 4:15
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    Grazie, ma dev'essere: Welcome to ItalianSE!! Le preposizioni sono una grande seccatura, no? Jun 18, 2019 at 23:28

1 Answer 1

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The meaning of spuntare you’re looking for is the following:

  1. fig. a. Superare, vincere (forse dall’antico sign. marin. di doppiare, superare una punta, un promontorio): s. una difficoltà, un ostacolo. Più spesso assol., con il compl. indeterminato la, avere la meglio, averla vinta; conseguire, ottenere ciò che ci si proponeva superando ostacoli e difficoltà: la sua famiglia era contraria a quel matrimonio, ma lei alla fine l’ha spuntata; questa volta non la spunti, neppure se piangi per un mese!; finirono per spuntarla, riebbero quanto percepivano fino a due mesi prima (Pratolini). Quindi, s. l’impegno, riuscire nel proprio scopo: animando il cugino a persister nell’impresa, a spuntar l’impegno (Manzoni).

It means (figuratively) to win, to get your own way.

The phrase you asked could be translated like this:

Let’s see who gets her own way this time.

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    Thanks for the answer and the definition. By the way, the correct English for your translation is: Let's see who gets his own way this time. Or her, in this case, since it's a woman talking about another woman Jun 18, 2019 at 14:35
  • @user1236910 Thanks, I corrected the phrase.
    – abarisone
    Jun 18, 2019 at 17:27

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