come to blows

present singular third person comes to blows · participle present coming to blows · past came to blows

1. idiomaticTo fight; to initiate physical conflict, especially subsequent to escalating tension or antagonism.

   The argument grew heated and teammates grabbed the pair to prevent them from coming to blows.

   1966 September 9, “LA Jumpy? Two Stars Near Blows”, in Milwaukee Sentinel, USA, retrieved 29 Aug 2010

   3 more examples

   I'll follow you, Floating Tom, into the Mingo camp, on such an arr'nd, and will strive to do my duty, should we come to blows; though, never having been tried in battle, I don't like to promise more than I may be able to perform.

   1841, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 6, in The Deerslayer

   [T]here is a variety of drunkenness. . . . Some stagger about in each other's arms, whispering maudlin words—others start quarrels upon the slightest pretext, and come to blows and have to be pulled apart.

   1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter I, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC

   Iraqi security forces and peshmerga almost came to blows in the disputed area of Khanaqin, in Diyala province, after Iraqi troops tried to enter the mixed town.

   2009 March 24, Rania Abouzeid, “Arab-Kurd Tensions Could Threaten Iraq's Peace”, in Time

2. impersonalTo degrade into a fight or physical conflict (in reference to an argument or to a situation of tension or antagonism).

   They exchanged insults, without it coming to blows.