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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

at daggers drawn en · ADP

Pronunciation

  • /æt ˌdæɡəɹz ˈdɹɔn/ (General-American)
  • (General-American) audio
  • /æt ˌdæɡəz ˈdɹɔːn/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Probably a reference to people preparing to fight by drawing their daggers from their sheaths. Compare French à couteaux tirés (literally “at daggers drawn”).

Meanings

  1. (UK, idiomatic) In a state of open hostility.
    • The new duke of Orléans, son of the Regent, was a callow and shallow youth and worse still—for the house of Condé, collateral with the Bourbons, was perennially at daggers drawn with the rival Orléans dynasty—had just married and already made his wife pregnant. 2002, Colin Jones, “Negotiating Stormy Weather: The Regency and the Advent of Fleury (1715–26)”, in The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715–99, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 80:
    • But [David] Cameron nevertheless feels confident, because he is pretty sure that he has got Labour where he wants it, still off the centre ground on economic credibility and increasingly at daggers drawn with the Liberal Democrats, not least over the pivotal electoral event of this parliament, the AV referendum. 2011 April 28, Martin Kettle, “Vote yes to AV if you want to see Tories feel the fear again”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2022:
    • And upon this point, vvere they at Daggers Dravvn vvith the Emperour. 1667, Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, “The Seventh Vision of Hell Reform’d”, in R[oger] L[’Estrange], transl., The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman […], →OCLC, page 263:

Relateds

at loggerheads · at each other's throats · at daggers' drawing · to daggers' drawing · the knives are out

Synonyms

at daggers' points

Translations (8)

cy yn benben (in a state of open hostility) · fr à couteaux tirés (in a state of open hostility) · cmn 勢不兩立 /势不两立 (in a state of open hostility) · cy yn barod i ymladd (in a state of open hostility) · fi sotajalalla (in a state of open hostility) · cy ar daro (in a state of open hostility) · pl z nożem w zębach (in a state of open hostility) · cy am waed eich gilydd (in a state of open hostility)