Meaning of これでもかと


Reading the fourth volume of 白銀のソードブレイカー I found again this structure, and I'm
not sure what does it mean:

> 手元にある巻物や古文書を **これでもかと** 広げ、書かれている文字を食い入るように読む

On
[Jisho](https://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%93%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A7%E3%82%82%E3%81%8B%E3%81%A8%E8%A8%80%E3%81%86%E3%81%BB%E3%81%A9)
I found something similar as これでもかと言うほど, I found [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/72703/meaning-
of-%E3%81%93%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A7%E3%82%82%E3%81%8B%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86-forms)
where it's said to mean something on the line of "Isn't this enough?", and
[this](https://hinative.com/questions/14446978) answer on HiNative seems to
concur.

[This
thread](https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E3%81%93%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A7%E3%82%82%E3%81%8B%E3%81%A8%E8%87%AA%E8%A6%9A%E3%81%95%E3%81%9B%E3%82%89%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B.2942648/)
on WordReference is interesting because it uses this form, but with a verb
different from 言う(ほど) after it, and there too it's said これでもか＝いやというほど; here
the と is missing, but I guess that when used it just implies an unwritten
言う(ほど).

Jisho gives "as if it weren't already enough" as meaning, which doesn't really
seem to fit in the sentence, but reading これでもかと(言うほど) as いやというほど I'd
understand it as something like "To the point where it's unpleasant", meaning
there is too much of something (or someone did too much of something); under
this assumption I'd read the initial sentence as something like "She had **far
too many** scrolls and old books opened before her, and she was intently
reading what whas written on them", これでもかと being an intensifier stressing that
she had **a lot** of reading material before her, so many it'd be almost
impossible to read them all or anyway too many for the matter at hand.

Did I understand well this construction?




Practically you can interpret これでもかと as _a lot, many, much_. Although there
may be some things lost in translation, _she had a(n awful) lot of scrolls and
ancient books at hand, and..._ is fine.

There is a connotation of excess, but literally, as you mentioned in the
question, it is これでもかと(言わんばかりに)= _as if saying 'isn't this enough? (then I do
more)'_.

Accordingly, it sounds like doing the thing further and further; in this case,
un-rolling scrolls one after another to the point where it looks too many from
the viewer's perspective (but not from the doer's - I feel this is why _she
had too many scrolls_ does not sound completely right to me. The English
version seems to blur from whose perspective it is too many.)

* * *

いやというほど more commonly appears with verbs meaning some experience/sensation
than action. E.g., いやというほど食べた/飲んだ etc.




Practically you can interpret これでもかと as _a lot, many, much_. Although there
may be some things lost in translation, _she had a(n awful) lot of scrolls and
ancient books at hand, and..._ is fine.

There is a connotation of excess, but literally, as you mentioned in the
question, it is これでもかと(言わんばかりに)= _as if saying 'isn't this enough? (then I do
more)'_.

Accordingly, it sounds like doing the thing further and further; in this case,
un-rolling scrolls one after another to the point where it looks too many from
the viewer's perspective (but not from the doer's - I feel this is why _she
had too many scrolls_ does not sound completely right to me. The English
version seems to blur from whose perspective it is too many.)

* * *

いやというほど more commonly appears with verbs meaning some experience/sensation
than action. E.g., いやというほど食べた/飲んだ etc.

