at swords' points

Combative, quarrelsome, or belligerent. I'm not surprised that those two are arguing already—they're always at swords' points. The police have had to intervene because those rival gangs have been at swords' points lately. The two recruiters are at swords' points because they each think a different candidate is perfect for the job.

See also: point

at sword's point

Also, at swords' points. Antagonistic, hostile, as in Father and son were at swords' points. Dating from the days when swords were used to settle quarrels, the idiom today generally signifies only a bitter quarrel.

See also: point

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

at swords' points

Ready for a fight.

See also: point

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

at swords' points

Openly hostile. This term obviously refers to swordfighting, long a thing of the past, but it has not died out. Mary McCarthy used it in her novel, The Group (1963): “Mrs. Hartshorn and her dead husband had had a running battle over Wilson and the League, and now Priss and Sloan were at swords’ points over Roosevelt and socialized medicine.” A synonymous expression is at daggers drawn, first recorded in 1668 but used figuratively only from the 1800s. Robert B. Brough, Marston Lynch, His Life and Times (1870) had it: “Was Marston still at daggers drawn with his rich uncle?”

See also: point

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