studs up

Prepositional phrase

1. With the studs (cleats) of one's boots exposed to hit another player, in a way that violates the rules.
   • Huth flies into a sliding tackle, studs up, but gets the ball off Elmander.2011 April 17, Rob Bagchi, “Bolton Wanderers v Stoke City - as it happened!”, in The Guardian
   • One guy took a run at Maslah from thirty yards out, slamming into him, studs up, nailing his knee.2018 February 27, Amy Bass, One Goal: A Coach, a Team, and the Game That Brought a Divided Town Together, Hachette UK, →ISBN
2. (UK, broadly) Aggressively, ruthlessly and recklessly.
   • So it was that Oily Mike found himself up against Angela Rayner in the Commons for the third time in a matter of weeks. Labour's deputy leader went in studs up.2023 October 31, John Crace, Depraved New World: Please Hold, the Government Will Be With You Shortly, Faber & Faber, →ISBN
   • As Truss’s foreign secretary, it was he who was tasked with opening negotiations, and who said at the time that he hoped to have them wrapped up by last year. That made his decision to go in studs up on the Government’s announcement understandable, on one level, but nonetheless what Sir Humphrey...2024 October 4, Henry Hill, “Tories must share the blame for the national embarrassment of the Chagos handover”, in Conservative Home