come to blows

Idioms  

1. Begin to fight. For example, It hardly seems worth coming to blows over a dollar! Thomas Hobbes had it in Leviathan (1651): “Their controversie must either come to blowes, or be undecided.” This term is also put as fall to blows, especially in Britain. [Late 1500s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

come to blows

It’s “monkey see, monkey do,” she said, adding that she’s seen people nearly come to blows after drivers cut the line to snag a valuable spot.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2025

It’s been nearly seven years since audiences saw Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock come to blows for the last time in Netflix’s “Daredevil.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2025

But Medellín Legorreta worries the two heavyweights may come to blows as forest fragmentation worsens and climate change brings further warming and prolonged droughts.

From Science Magazine ● Oct. 11, 2023

An entertaining night at the AO Arena also saw Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall almost come to blows.

From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2023

But Haie is rather the executive arm, operating under Kat’s orders when things come to blows.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque