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Fighting with Gloves on

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Sparring without showing animosity; fighting with weapons or words with coloured friendliness. Fighting, like boxers, with boxing gloves. Tories and Whigs in the two Houses of Parliament fight with gloves on, so long as they preserve all the outward amenities of debate, and conceal their hostility to each other by seeming friendliness.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Figs
Figged out
Figaro
Fight
Fight Shy (To)
Fighting-cocks
Fighting Fifth (The)
Fighting Kings [Chen-kuo]
Fighting Prelate
Fighting the Tiger
Fighting with Gloves on
Figure
Figure
Figure-head
Figure of Fun (A)
Figures
Filch
File
Filia Dolorosa
Filibuster
Filioque Controversy (The)