10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SPIKE SOMEONE'S GUNS»
Discover the use of
spike someone's guns in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to
spike someone's guns and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Advanced Learner's Dictionary
spike someone's guns to spoil someone's plans: 'Publishing this report before
they publish theirs will really spike their guns ' This derives from the practice of
disabling early cannon and firearms by driving a spike into the hole through
which ...
spike (someone's) guns to spoil (an opponent's) plans by making it impossible to
carry them out: He planned to cause trouble at the meeting but we spiked his
guns by holding it on a different night without telling him of the change. [A military
...
3
The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms
spike (someone's) guns to spoil (an opponent's) plans by making it impossible to
carry them out: He planned to cause trouble at the meeting but we spiked his
guns by holding it on a different night without telling him of the change. [A military
...
Elizabeth McLaren Kirkpatrick, C. M. Schwarz,
1993
4
Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms
... smoking gun: see SMOKING. son of a gun: see SON. spike someone's guns:
see SPIKE. stick to your guns refuse to compromise or change, despite criticism.
informal o The image here is ofa soldier maintaining his position under enemy
fire.
... beat the gun 1. (#£&&$) A •SPffift ; «JS& 2.(p)^«ifT»J (There's plenty of time,
you needn't jump thegu„.\%mM& • imm&mft® ° ) to spike someone's guns M
SPIKE to stick to one's guns H.STICK2 gunner to kiss/ marry the gunner's
daughter ...
6
Bloomsbury Dictionary of Idioms
SPIKE. spike someone's guns silence someone; spoil someone's plans. The
government will do anything to spike the opposition's guns – even to the point of
pinching some of their policies. A spike used to be driven into an enemy's
captured ...
7
General Knowledge of English Literature
To go great guns—to act with energyand efficiency. To spike someone's guns—to
spoil someone's plans, to prevent him from realising them. To bring up the heavy
guns/artillery—the important people, the leaders. To gun for someone—toplot ...
8
Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins
To spike someone's guns is to thwart their plans. This expression refers to the
practice of disabling cannons captured from the enemy. A spike was driven into
the small hole through which the charge was ignited, making it impossible to fire
the ...
9
Oxford Dictionary of English
phrases spike someone's guns Brit. thwart someV- one's plans. – origin Middle
English: perhaps from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch spiker, related to
SPOKE1. The verb dates from the early 17th cent. spike2 7noun Botany a flower
cluster ...
10
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
... who develops arachnid powers after being bitten by a radio-active spider.
spike someone's guns thwart someone's plans. Recorded from the late 17th
century, the expression then referred literally to the practice of hammering a
metal spike ...