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Glite Dictionary
to bet the feathers will fly

to bet the feathers will fly

9.9
Says an angry argument is likely to happen
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : apostar que habrá una pelea
  • If the proposal goes through, bet the feathers will fly at the next meeting.

Examples

  • If the board tries to cut bonuses, you can bet the feathers will fly.

  • I bet the feathers will fly when they find out.

  • Whenever rival managers meet, bet the feathers will fly during the negotiations.

  • You can bet the feathers will fly after that argument!

  • If the board tries to cut bonuses, you can bet the feathers will fly.

  • If the proposal goes through, bet the feathers will fly at the next meeting.

  • Whenever rival managers meet, bet the feathers will fly during the negotiations.

Antonyms

peace
∞ 1.0

A calm, friendly relationship between people or groups without argument

harmony
146 2.5

Agreement and peaceful working together between people or ideas

Surface Forms

bet the feathers will fly infinitive
bet the feathers will fly past
bet the feathers will fly past participle
betting the feathers will fly present participle
bets the feathers will fly third person singular

Morphology

bet + the + feathers + will + fly

The verb 'bet' clearly signals a prediction and the literal image 'feathers will fly' evokes disorder or things being scattered, so a learner who knows the constituents can guess that a disturbance or commotion is being predicted. However, the mapping from flying feathers to a heated argument is a conventionalized metaphor and not fully predictable from the parts alone, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Bet the feathers will fly comes from the image of birds fighting and sending feathers flying everywhere in a noisy mess. So the phrase is used to say 'a loud or heated argument' is likely to happen.