the handbags come out
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
a fight or argument breaks out, especially among women
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Cuộc tranh cãi hoặc cãi vã bùng phát, đặc biệt là giữa phụ nữ
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: handbags being used as weapons
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The debate started calmly, but soon the handbags came out
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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “the handbags come out” mean?
a fight or argument breaks out, especially among women Literally: handbags being used as weapons
Is “the handbags come out” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.