to spike one's guns for him
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To render his plans abortive, frustrate the scheme he has been laying, "draw his teeth." The allusion is to the old way of making a gun useless by driving a spike into the touch-hole.
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 spike one's guns for him” mean?
To render his plans abortive, frustrate the scheme he has been laying, "draw his teeth." The allusion is to the old way of making a gun useless by driving a spike into the touch-hole.
Is “to spike one's guns for him” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.