square off

English

Verb

square off (third-person singular simple present squares off, present participle squaring off, simple past and past participle squared off)

2. (Canada, US) To get ready for a confrontation (debate, argument, fight).

   Synonym: square up

   Antonym: stand down

   • 1984, Daniel Petrie Jr., Beverly Hills Cop, spoken by Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy), Paramount Pictures:

     Hey, man, don't square off on me with some bullshit.

   • 2019 October 18, Thomas Meaney, “When James Baldwin Squared Off Against William F. Buckley Jr.”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     When James Baldwin Squared Off Against William F. Buckley Jr. [title]

   • 2023 September 7, “US, China square off on the South China Sea as Indonesia urges leaders to maintain peace”, in CNA‎^[2]:
4. (industrial design) To increase the boxiness of (a design).

   Antonym: round off

   After the aeronautically inspired curvaceous designs of the 1930s and 1940s, many American automotive designs of the 1950s through 1970s were somewhat more squared off.

Further reading

• “square off”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.