throw down the gauntlet

Alternative forms

• throw down the gantlet

Etymology

From the late medieval custom symbolizing a challenge, in French tendre son gantelet. The English phrase dates to the 1540s (figurative use by the 18th century).

Verb

throw down the gauntlet

1. To issue a challenge.
   • 1730, Caleb d' Anvers (Nicholas Amhurst), The Craftsman‎, volume 7, page 91:

     We might as well dispute with Dimock on a Coronation Day, as argue with these Writers. They strut, vapour, throw down the Gauntlet, and defy us to take it up.