tug of war
noun
an athletic contest between two teams at opposite ends of a rope, each team trying to drag the other over a line.
a hard-fought, critical struggle for supremacy.
Origin of tug of war
1670–80 for def 2; 1875–80 for def 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
tug of war
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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