to come to blows
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To start fighting. To come to grief, to hand. See GRIEF; HAND.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to come to blows” mean?
To start fighting. To come to grief, to hand. See GRIEF; HAND.
Is “to come to blows” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.