enter the lists, to

To engage in combat, rivalry, or competition. The term comes from medieval jousting tournaments, in which the list or lists was the barrier around the arena for such a contest. It was used figuratively already by Shakespeare (“Now is she in the very lists of love,” Venus and Adonis, 1592). In 1647 Nathaniel Bacon used the full expression, “The King, loth to enter the List with the Clergy about too many matters” (Historical Discourse of the Uniformity of the Government of England). The term is similar to the slightly newer eager for the fray or enter the fray, “fray” being a battle, skirmish, or other fight, usually of a noisy nature. The first originated as a direct quotation from Colley Cibber’s version of Shakespeare’s Richard III (5.3): “My soul’s in arms, and eager for the fray.” However, all these expres- sions appear to be dying out.