Bandy Words With




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Bandy Words With : Phrases



Meaning:

To argue.


Origin:

The Irish game Bandy is a ferocious ball game in which the ball is played to and fro with sticks. Earlier, in John Webster's The White Devil, 1612, the term was applied to tennis, or at that date more probably real tennis:

"He had been bandying at tennis".

The word bandy meant 'exchange - toss to and fro', and had been used in other expressions. For example, Shakespeare used it in King Lear, 1605:

"Do you bandy lookes with me, you Rascall?"

Samuel Johnson used it in 1767, as reported by Boswell, 1831:

"It was not for me to bandy civilities with my sovereign."



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