hammer and tongs

phrase

Etymology

Possibly the tools of a blacksmith.

Definitions

  1. In a manner indicating seriousness of intent and capability of harm.

    • When they had an argument they went at it hammer and tongs.
    • She sort of let things go, didn't get me a proper dinner when I came home from work, and if I said anything, flew out at me. And I flew back, hammer and tongs.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for hammer and tongs. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA