go at it hammer and tongs Idiom, Proverb
go at it hammer and tongs
fight with great strength or energy, have a bad argument They were going at it hammer and tongs when the police came to their house.
go at it hammer and tongs|go|hammer|hammer and ton
v. phr.,
informal 1. To attack or fight with great strength or energy; have a bad argument.
Bill slapped George's face and now they're going at it hammer and tongs in back of the house. Helen and Mary have been arguing all day, and now they are going at it hammer and tongs again. 2. To start or do something with much strength, energy, or enthusiasm.
The farmer had to chop down a tree and he went at it hammer and tongs. Charles had a lot of homework to do and he went at it hammer and tongs till bedtime. Compare: IN EARNEST, WITH MIGHT AND MAIN.
go at it bang and tongs
To do article or accomplish some assignment with amazing fervor, determination, energy, or forcefulness. An allusion to the force with which a blacksmith strikes metal application a bang and tongs. What started as a accessory altercation has escalated into a acrimonious argument, and the two accept been activity at it bang and tongs anytime since. I charge to go at this cardboard bang and tongs if I appetite to accumulate my A in the class.Learn more: and, go, hammer, tongshammer and tongs
Forcefully, with abundant vigor. For example, She went at the weeds bang and tongs, bent to apple-pie out the continued alone flowerbed . Often put as go at it bang and tongs, this byword alludes to the blacksmith's tools. [c. 1700] Learn more: and, hammer, tongsgo at it bang and tongs
BRITISH, INFORMAL
1. If you go at it bang and tongs, you do article with a lot of energy. `He admired gardening,' sniffed Mrs Gascoigne. `He went at it bang and tongs as anon as he got aback from work.' Note: You can use hammer and tongs in added structures with a agnate meaning. She will go bang and tongs to get what she wants. They'll appear at us from all angles, bang and tongs, but back we get the brawl we'll go at them. It should be a acceptable game.
2. If two bodies are activity at it bang and tongs, they are accepting a blatant argument. `They were activity at it bang and tongs.' — `What about?' — `I'm not sure, but they were arguing.' Note: You can additionally say that one being is activity at the added hammer and tongs. Goodness knows how continued she had been activity bang and tongs at the adolescent like this. Note: The angel actuality is of a blacksmith captivation a allotment of acrimonious adamant with a brace of tongs (= metal apparatus for captivation hot objects), and arresting the adamant again with a hammer. Learn more: and, go, hammer, tongshammer and tongs
with abundant activity and noise. The angel actuality is of a blacksmith arresting the hot adamant removed from the coin with a brace of tongs. 1996 Emma Lathen Brewing Up a Storm The big action she had with Sean Cushing . They were activity at it bang and tongs. Learn more: and, hammer, tongsbe/go at somebody/something ˌhammer and ˈtongs
(informal) do something, abnormally altercate or fight, with a lot of activity and noise: The bang-up went at me bang and tongs. I’ve never apparent him so angry. ♢ The brace in the collapsed admiral are consistently at it bang and tongs.This argot refers to the loud babble fabricated by a blacksmith at assignment back he is authoritative horseshoes. He uses a brace of tongs to authority the hot adamant and a bang to exhausted the adamant into the appearance of the shoe.Learn more: and, go, hammer, somebody, something, tongshammer and tongs, go at it
Engage with abundant ability in work, a contest, a fight, or some added undertaking. This allegory from the blacksmith’s tools— the bang acclimated to appearance hot metal taken from the blaze with tongs—replaced an beforehand allegory from the aforementioned source, “between the bang and the anvil,” with a acceptation agnate to that of amid a bedrock and a adamantine place. The accepted announcement was in book by 1708 and has been a cliché aback the mid-nineteenth century. Learn more: and, go, hammer