1
general::
Phrase(s): word for word
in the exact words; verbatim. • I memorized the speech, word for word. • I can’t recall word for word what she told us.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Exactly as written or spoken, as in That was the forecast, word for word. Chaucer used this idiom in the late 1300s.
American Heritage Idioms