throw down the gauntlet

• throw down the gantlet

From the late medieval custom symbolizing a challenge, in French jeter le gant which nowadays usually means to give up after having tried hard (leaving the challenge to any takers). The English phrase dates to the 1540s (figurative use by the 18th century).

throw down the gauntlet (third-person singular simple present throws down the gauntlet, present participle throwing down the gauntlet, simple past threw down the gauntlet, past participle thrown down the gauntlet)

1. To issue a challenge.
   • 1730, Caleb d' Anvers (Nicholas Amhurst), The Craftsman‎, volume 7, page 91:

     We might as well dispute with Dimock on a Coronation Day, as argue with these Writers. They strut, vapour, throw down the Gauntlet, and defy us to take it up.

• throw down, throw-down

• take up the gauntlet

• throw one's hat in the ring