cross swords
English
Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
cross swords (third-person singular simple present crosses swords, present participle crossing swords, simple past and past participle crossed swords)
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cross, sword., to place or hold two swords so they cross each other.
- To fight with someone; to duel.
- 1966 September 24, Brian Hayles, “The Smugglers, episode 3” (15:39 from the start), in Doctor Who, season 4, episode 3, spoken by The Squire (Paul Whitsun-Jones), via BBC:
- I do not relish crossing swords with Pike's hook.
- (idiomatic) To quarrel or argue with someone; to have a dispute with someone.
- 1902, Richard Bagot, Donna Diana[1], published 2008, →ISBN, page 240:
- You say that you do not see how you and I have crossed swords with the priests.
- 1961 February, “Letters to the Editor: Swiss railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 126:
- I must cross swords with the author of the article on the Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland, on two points.
- 1974, Ira Brown Cross, “The Knights of Labor”, in A history of the labor movement in California[2], →ISBN, page 179:
- Loring Pickering and George K. Fitch, the owners of these newspapers, had as early as 1870 crossed swords with the local typographical union, and had been defeated in a strike when they had attempted a reduction in wages.
- 2002, Ukraine's Quest Roundtable Steering Committee, “Ukraine and Human Rights”, in Ukraine's Quest for Mature Nation Statehood - A roundtable[3], →ISBN, First Session, page 25:
- Crossing swords with oligarchs is one problem. An equally tough problem is crossing swords with the straight political elites, particularly the power ministries.
- (idiomatic, vulgar) For males, to urinate simultaneously such that the streams intersect.
Synonyms
- (to have a dispute with someone): lock horns
Translations
used other than as an idiom
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to fight with someone — see duel
idiomatic: to have a dispute with someone
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idiomatic, vulgar: to urinate such that the streams intersect
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