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the handbags come out

phrase

Etymology

Coined c. March 2nd, 2004 by Jeremy St. Louis on the radio show Fox Sports World Report. Derives from women hitting each other with handbags during a catfight; compare earlier handbags, handbags at dawn.

Definitions

  1. A row intensifies

    A row intensifies; a dispute becomes heated.

    • "I'm ready to take the blame for all the problems of English football, if that is what he wants." The handbags come out early doors when Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger responds to Ferguson's dig about the Gunners' foreign contingent.
    • The handbags have come out after a diplomatic argument between Israel and Brazil got, well, very personal.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for the handbags come out. 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