daggers drawn, at

Also, with daggers drawn. About to or ready to fight, as in Are Felix and Oscar still at daggers drawn over the rent? Although daggers today are rarely if ever used to avenge an insult or issue a challenge to a duel, this idiom remains current. Its figurative use dates from about 1800.

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Violent altercations with police-boats don't ruffle them at all; at one moment it looks daggers drawn; at the next it is shrugs and smiles.

From

Adj. inimical, unfriendly, hostile; at enmity, at variance, at daggers drawn, at open war with; up in arms against; in bad odor with. on bad terms, not on speaking terms; cool; cold, cold hearted; estranged, alienated, disaffected, irreconcilable.

From

at cross purposes at death's door

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