The meeting turned into handbags at dawn over a minor seating choice.
handbags at dawn
idiomA catty squabble.
Origin
first recorded 20th c. disputed originFirst appears in the UK in the 1980s. A jocular derivation from pistols at dawn, replacing pistols with handbags, referring to women hitting each other with handbags during a catfight. The phrase originated in football. It may have been influenced by the phrase handbagging meaning a verbal dressing-down, in reference to the then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; and by the Monty Python sketch The Batley Townswomen's Guild Presents the Battle of Pearl Harbor (season 1, episode 11. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Goes to the Bathroom, December 1969), in which the actors flail at each other with handbags in a muddy field.
The two coworkers started a petty argument about the coffee machine, which quickly turned into handbags at dawn.
What began as a professional disagreement regarding the project timeline soon devolved into handbags at dawn, much to the embarrassment of the entire department.
- 01
crack of dawn
The first moment of daylight; the instant at which sunrise begins.
- 02
dawn of a new day
A new beginning; a fresh start; an important, promising turning point.
- 03
dawn of time
The beginning of time, of the universe, of the world, of mankind or of history.
- 04
dawn on
To occur to somebody; to be realized by.
- 05
handbags at ten paces
Synonym of handbags at dawn (“a catty squabble”).
- 06
new dawn
A new beginning; a fresh start; an important, promising turning point.
- 07
the handbags come out
A row intensifies; a dispute becomes heated.