throw down the gauntlet
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To issue a challenge or provoke a confrontation
Literally: drop a glove as a challenge to fight
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The French prime minister has just thrown down a gauntlet to America on agricultural trade: he wants to rewrite the deal recently struck by America and the EC on farm exports (see page 92).
Do you want me to apologise for picking up the gauntlet you threw down?’
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
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 “throw down the gauntlet” mean?
To issue a challenge or provoke a confrontation Literally: drop a glove as a challenge to fight
Is “throw down the gauntlet” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.