Word.ws English Dictionary

at daggers drawn

Syllables: at dag·gers drawnUK/æt ˌdæɡəz ˈdɹɔːn//æt ˌdæɡəɹz ˈdɹɔn/

at daggers drawn prepositional phrase: in a state of open hostility.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (UK, idiomatic) In a state of open hostility.
    • And upon this point, vvere they at Daggers Dravvn vvith the Emperour.1667, Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, “The Seventh Vision of Hell Reform’d”, in R[oger] L[’Estrange], transl., The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman...
    • The new duke of Orléans, son of the Regent, was a callow and shallow youth and worse still—for the house of Condé, collateral with the Bourbons, was perennially at daggers drawn with the rival Orléans dynasty—had just married and already made his wife pregnant.2002, Colin Jones, “Negotiating Stormy Weather: The Regency and the Advent of Fleury (1715–26)”, in The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715–99, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y....
    Synonyms:
    at daggers' points

at daggers drawn meaning in Tamil

at daggers drawn in Tamil

போர்செய் நிலையில், பகைமை நிலையில்

Synonyms of at daggers drawn

  • at daggers' points

Origin of at daggers drawn

Probably a reference to people preparing to fight by drawing their daggers from their sheaths. Compare French à couteaux tirés (literally “at daggers drawn”).

Words that rhyme with at daggers drawn

25 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about at daggers drawn

What does at daggers drawn mean?
At daggers drawn means in a state of open hostility.
What is at daggers drawn in Tamil?
At daggers drawn in Tamil is போர்செய் நிலையில், பகைமை நிலையில். See At daggers drawn meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is at daggers drawn?
At daggers drawn is a prepositional phrase.
How do you pronounce at daggers drawn?
At daggers drawn is pronounced /æt ˌdæɡəz ˈdɹɔːn/ (UK).

Words near at daggers drawn in the dictionary

  1. at church every time the doors are open
  2. at church every time the doors swing open
  3. at command
  4. at cost
  5. at cross-purposes
  6. at daggers drawn
  7. at dark
  8. at death's door
  9. at each other's throats
  10. at ease
  11. at every turn

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: at daggers drawn (page history and authors); at daggers drawn (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-at daggers drawn.oga.

Cite this entry: “at daggers drawn.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/at_daggers_drawn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.