fighting fire with fire

Verb

fight fire with fire (third-person singular simple present fights fire with fire, present participle fighting fire with fire, simple past and past participle fought fire with fire)

1. (idiomatic) To respond to an attack with a similar or identical counter-attack (e.g. to respond to gunfire with reciprocal gunfire).
   • Close enough but not too far / Maybe you know where you are / Fightin' fire with fire1983, Talking Heads, “Burning Down the House”, in Speaking in Tongues