Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A brief, usually heated conflict or argument.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A sharp contest; especially, a fight at fisticuffs; a pugilistic encounter; a boxing-match; also, any similar contest, as with foils.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun colloq. A contest in boxing, in an argument, or the like.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
fight
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a brief but vigorous fight
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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After a time one rumbles his technique: a big emotional set-to, followed by pure bathos like Eleanor's "Well, what family doesn't have its ups and downs?"
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There is no "obvious" nominee-in-waiting, and a juicy, public set-to between the party regulars, who are still chastened by losses in 2006 and 2008, and the insurgents, who despite being dubbed the Tea "Party" are not a unified group with a coherent platform or organizational structure.
Dr. Philip Neches: Get Ready for Gridlock Dr. Philip Neches 2010
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The judgment said Suárez's claim to have been "conciliatory and friendly" in the set-to with Evra was not believable, given the "mutual animosity" of their argument clear in video evidence.
Onus on clubs to prevent ugly spectre of racism rearing its head again | David Conn 2012
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Or in the case of Texas, not deliver any.10.35pm: Another Perry v Romney set-to: "I think sometimes Americans don't know which Mitt Romney they're dealing with," says Perry, who struggles to explain what he means after that.
GOP presidential candidates debate in Orlando - as it happened 2011
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Even by his own high standards, Terry King's fights are exceptional, not least in the way the big set-to between Tybalt and Mercutio starts at a level of lethal jokiness and rapidly escalates.
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The little set-to had occurred in so few seconds, or fractions of seconds, that they had not begun to betray recognition of each other until they were out of the machine.
CHAPTER XXXV 2010
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Henry's set-to with an Arsenal fan came after the final whistle, when the players went across to applaud their followers.
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Of course it's happened before – as recently as 2009 – but with so much worry about the power of the euro and the wealth of the French clubs, an Anglo-Irish set-to at the Millennium Stadium in three weeks would come like a breath of fresh air.
Leinster and Northampton can reverse trend and make French toast | Shaun Edwards 2011
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His set-to marks the beginning of the rift between the Two Cultures, with the withdrawal of professional scientists into an intellectual ghetto, and the banishment of science from the mainstream of national life.
May 7th, 2009 m_francis 2009
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The consensus scorecard for the final set-to on Thursday had Cameron the winner, Clegg a close second and Brown -- the biggest loser in the Clegg boomlet -- a distant third.
Why Britain's American-style election will have un-American consequences Matt Frei 2010
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