come to blows
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to start fighting or arguing violently
Literally: engage in physical combat
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The two neighbors came to blows over the noise complaint
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.
Equivalents & related
Common questions
What does “come to blows” mean?
to start fighting or arguing violently Literally: engage in physical combat
Is “come to blows” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“đánh nhau” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.