coming to blows

Verb

come to blows (third-person singular simple present comes to blows, present participle coming to blows, simple past came to blows, past participle come to blows)

1. (idiomatic) To fight; to initiate physical conflict, especially subsequent to escalating tension or antagonism.
   • I'll follow you, Floating Tom, into the Mingo camp, on such an arr'nd, and will strive to do my duty, should we come to blows; though, never having been tried in battle, I don't like to promise more than I may be able to perform.1841, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 6, in The Deerslayer
2. (impersonal) To degrade into a fight or physical conflict (in reference to an argument or to a situation of tension or antagonism).
   • They exchanged insults, without it coming to blows.