guns blazing
8
7.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
a lo grande
- The team entered the competition guns blazing, showing their determination to win.
- come guns blazing
- go guns blazing
You know, I came out, you know, all guns blazing.
- You know, I came out, you know, all guns blazing.
- You can go and get all the skills you need to deal with this, and then these people still can come at you guns blazing and you have to just hold firm.
- And I'm talking about Marco Rubio and there's a lot of them and they came out guns blazing against Trump originally.
- And then he and then we started the scene and he was just like came guns blazing, like just all, every word on point, like just so good.
- I don't know who that guy is, I don't know who the fuck he is, but I challenge his shit bag legal team to come at me guns blazing.
Examples
-
American special forces went in, all guns blazing, rescued her against hostile fire.
-
Now, Chad said if they were gone longer than 15 minutes, we come in, guns blazing.
-
As you can see, we're going in all guns blazing.
-
Just run in, guns blazing.
-
We're coming out, guns blazing.
Fiction book (1997) -
The Spaniards arrived, guns blazing, determined to prove who was boss.
-
The intel we have says they're gonna come guns blazing.
-
Time to retire the "rope-a-dope" and come out guns blazing.
Blog text (31) -
The Vols are going to have to come out guns blazing, especially with Curt Maggitt out.
Blog text (18) -
They pin back the shooters as Chen storms into the hall and races, guns blazing, toward the gunmen.
Fiction book (1999)
Synonyms
126
4.9
In a forceful way that shows readiness to attack or argue
12
5.6
In a very strong and angry way
2
7.2
In a very strong and determined way, often to attack or confront someone
2
7.6
In an angry and unfriendly way that shows you want to fight
In a very brave and aggressive way that shows no fear
Reacting in a sudden, angry way
Antonyms
How Aggressive
- Informal
8
7.4
126
4.9
2
5.1
70
2.3
14
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
guns + blazing
The constituents 'guns' (weapons) and 'blazing' (firing/intensely conspicuous) together evoke force, intensity and active firing, so a learner who knows both words could plausibly infer a sense of acting forcefully or energetically. However, this is a metaphorical, idiomatic extension (the precise nuance of determined/enthusiastic aggression) rather than a fully compositional meaning, so it is not completely predictable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Guns blazing gives the image of people rushing in with their guns firing and bright flashes 'blazing' around them. So, it means starting or acting loudly and strongly, in a very 'aggressive' or 'determined' way.