Idiom
measure swords with
Meaning
To match one's abilities against an antagonist's.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He wants to measure swords with the current champion.”
“The young lawyer prepared for weeks because she knew she would soon measure swords with a veteran prosecutor.”
“The two rivals, long accustomed to their separate spheres of influence, finally met in the boardroom to measure swords with one another over the future of the company.”
Examples
simple
“He wants to measure swords with the current champion.”
contextual
“The young lawyer prepared for weeks because she knew she would soon measure swords with a veteran prosecutor.”
complex
“The two rivals, long accustomed to their separate spheres of influence, finally met in the boardroom to measure swords with one another over the future of the company.”
Key words
Related idioms
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