beat one's swords into ploughshares
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To convert instruments of war into tools for peaceful use
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Chuyển đổi công cụ chiến tranh thành công cụ cho mục đích hòa bình
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: beating swords into farming equipment
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
After the war, the country beat its swords into ploughshares and focused on agriculture
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “beat one's swords into ploughshares” mean?
To convert instruments of war into tools for peaceful use Literally: beating swords into farming equipment
Is “beat one's swords into ploughshares” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.