Word.ws English Dictionary

take up the glove

take up the glove verb: to accept a challenge or adopt a quarrel.

Verb

take up the glove (third-person singular simple present takes up the glove, present participle taking up the glove, simple past took up the glove, past participle taken up the glove)

  1. To accept a challenge or adopt a quarrel.

Forms of take up the glove

third-person singular presenttakes up the glove
present participletaking up the glove
pasttook up the glove
past participletaken up the glove

Origin of take up the glove

In reference to the gauntlet traditionally thrown down and picked up to propose and accept a duel.

Questions about take up the glove

What does take up the glove mean?
Take up the glove means to accept a challenge or adopt a quarrel.
What part of speech is take up the glove?
Take up the glove is a verb.
What is the past tense of take up the glove?
The past tense of take up the glove is took up the glove.

Words near take up the glove in the dictionary

  1. take up residence
  2. take up the cudgel for
  3. take up the cudgels
  4. take up the gantlet
  5. take up the gauntlet
  6. take up the glove
  7. take up the hatchet
  8. take up the mantle
  9. take up the running
  10. take up the slack
  11. take up with

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take up the glove (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.

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