Meaning of drop the gloves | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To fight.
   Canada, US, idiomatic
2. To remove a prior impediment to action; to prepare for or engage in a dispute.
   Canada, US, broadly, idiomatic

Examples

“Nobody used to care when players such as John Ferguson, Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard dropped the gloves, because they could play the game, too.”

“But Bradley, who dropped the gloves on Gore in a combative debate Wednesday night and called the vice president chronically dishonest, ignored Sullivan's advice.”

CEFR level