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with the gloves off



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Idioms and Phrases

With or ready to dispense rough treatment, as in Prepared to oppose the council, the mayor marched into the meeting with the gloves off . This idiom alludes to old-style boxing, when gloves were not used. [Early 1800s]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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with the exception oftongue in cheek, with