lock horns
Related to lock horns: lock onto, pull in horns
lock horns
To fight or clash. There's always tension between those two—they lock horns over everything.
See also: horn, lock
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
lock horns (with someone)
Fig. to get into an argument with someone. Let's settle this peacefully. I don't want to lock horns with the boss. The boss doesn't want to lock horns either.
See also: horn, lock
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
lock horns
Become embroiled in conflict, as in At the town meeting Kate and Steve locked horns over increasing the property tax. This expression alludes to how stags and bulls use their horns to fight one another. [First half of 1800s]
See also: horn, lock
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
lock horns
If you lock horns with someone, you argue or fight with them. He has often locked horns with lawmakers as well as the administration. In Manhattan's densely built real estate market, developers and preservationists often lock horns. Note: The reference here is to two male animals, such as deer, fighting over a female and getting their horns caught together or `locked'.
See also: horn, lock
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
lock horns
engage in conflict.The image here is of two bulls fighting head-to-head with their horns. Both the literal and figurative senses of the phrase originated in the USA, in the mid 19th century.
See also: horn, lock
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
ˌlock ˈhorns (with somebody) (over something)
argue or fight with somebody: The lawyers did not want to lock horns with the judge.This idiom refers to the way that animals such as bulls, stags (= male deer), etc. fight with their horns or antlers.See also: horn, lock
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
lock horns
To become embroiled in conflict.
See also: horn, lock
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
lock horns
To get into an argument. Two deer, moose, or members of another antlered species who have a dispute they want to settle will face off, paw the ground, and charge at each other. Their antlers clash and often become enmeshed. They have locked horns. People who have a bone to pick can be said to lock horns too. The phrase appears in an 1865 poem by Algernon Swinburne to describe the domestic disagreement of a heifer and her mate locking horns.
See also: horn, lock
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
- pick a lock
- lock up
- locking
- lock away
- under lock and key
- lock in
- on one's
- on someone's
- lock
- out of one's