Definition
To fight.
To remove a prior impediment to action; to prepare for or engage in a dispute.
Origins
From the practice of ice hockey players of removing their heavy gloves before striking blows in fistfights.
In Context
- "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."