handbags at dawn

English

Etymology

1980s UK. Jocular derivation from pistols at dawn, replacing pistols with handbags, referring to women hitting each other with handbags during a catfight. The phrase originated in football. It may have been influenced by the phrase "handbagging" meaning "a verbal dressing-down", in reference to the then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; and by the Monty Python sketch “The Batley Townswomen's Guild Presents the Battle of Pearl Harbor” (season 1, episode 11. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Goes to the Bathroom, December 1969), in which the actors flail at each other with handbags in a muddy field.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

handbags at dawn (uncountable)

1. (British, humorous, idiomatic) A catty squabble.
2. (New Zealand, informal) Competitors on a sporting field (often in a rugby game) getting into a fight; looking threatening but not really doing any damage.

Derived terms

• handbags

Related terms

• the handbags come out