"gloves are off" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "One possible etymology comes from the sport of boxing, where competitors fistfight wearing padded gloves; removing the gloves during a fight could result in serious physical injury. Another comes from the trend of gentlemen wearing gloves as part of their outfit; these gloves would often be taken off before engaging in rough behavior.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "gloves are off",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The gloves are off in this match; both teams are purposely committing fouls against opposing players!",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 October 18, Mel Holley, “Network News: Harper attacks Labour over strikes... but unions hit back”, in RAIL, number 994, page 18:",
          "text": "The gloves were off at the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester on October 2, with Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper spending much of his speech attacking Labour and the unions.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Expressing that people are arguing or competing without regard to their actions or each other's feelings."
      ],
      "id": "en-gloves_are_off-en-phrase-dejUIWCR",
      "links": [
        [
          "arguing",
          "argue"
        ],
        [
          "competing",
          "compete"
        ],
        [
          "action",
          "action"
        ],
        [
          "feeling",
          "feeling"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "sense": "in an uncontrolled or difficult situation",
          "word": "when push comes to shove"
        },
        {
          "sense": "in an uncontrolled or difficult situation",
          "word": "when the chips are down"
        },
        {
          "sense": "in an uncontrolled or difficult situation",
          "word": "in a pinch"
        },
        {
          "word": "knockdown-dragout"
        },
        {
          "word": "take off one's gloves"
        },
        {
          "word": "the knives are out"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "gloves come off"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-the gloves are off.wav",
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  ],
  "word": "gloves are off"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "One possible etymology comes from the sport of boxing, where competitors fistfight wearing padded gloves; removing the gloves during a fight could result in serious physical injury. Another comes from the trend of gentlemen wearing gloves as part of their outfit; these gloves would often be taken off before engaging in rough behavior.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
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      "expansion": "gloves are off",
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "sense": "in an uncontrolled or difficult situation",
      "word": "when push comes to shove"
    },
    {
      "sense": "in an uncontrolled or difficult situation",
      "word": "when the chips are down"
    },
    {
      "sense": "in an uncontrolled or difficult situation",
      "word": "in a pinch"
    },
    {
      "word": "knockdown-dragout"
    },
    {
      "word": "take off one's gloves"
    },
    {
      "word": "the knives are out"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
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        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The gloves are off in this match; both teams are purposely committing fouls against opposing players!",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 October 18, Mel Holley, “Network News: Harper attacks Labour over strikes... but unions hit back”, in RAIL, number 994, page 18:",
          "text": "The gloves were off at the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester on October 2, with Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper spending much of his speech attacking Labour and the unions.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Expressing that people are arguing or competing without regard to their actions or each other's feelings."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "arguing",
          "argue"
        ],
        [
          "competing",
          "compete"
        ],
        [
          "action",
          "action"
        ],
        [
          "feeling",
          "feeling"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-the gloves are off.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ac/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-the_gloves_are_off.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-the_gloves_are_off.wav.mp3",
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "gloves come off"
    }
  ],
  "word": "gloves are off"
}