# The hell does "Have at you" mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-does-have-at-you-mean/92341 "2001-11-09T02:13:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kgriffey79](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@kgriffey79](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kgriffey79)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-does-have-at-you-mean/92341/1 "2001-11-09T02:13:56Z")
What is the origin of this? What does it really mean, it doesn’t make sense to me ☹ You know what I mean, people say have at you before a fight. What’s that all about? I actually searched the SDMB this time, but nothing came back so, please help me with this one 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-does-have-at-you-mean/92341/2 "2001-11-09T02:15:21Z")
Same thing as “Put up yer dukes!” ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-does-have-at-you-mean/92341/3 "2001-11-09T02:57:39Z")
As far as I know, which ain’t far, it first appears in the fight scene in Act V of Hamlet. Hamlet and Laertes are duelling and both get hit with a poisoned sword. Both die, Laertes “justly killed with mine own treachery” like a woodcock… ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-does-have-at-you-mean/92341/4 "2001-11-09T03:02:06Z")
Interesting question. The closest I could come is a speculation based on an entry in the **OED** (WAG Alert!). The phrase “have at avail” means to have at an advantage and the earliest citation is to Malory (_Le Morte D’Arthur_) in the phrase\* “Him thought no worship to have a knight at such avail, . . .” It is possible that the phrase reappeared a few times as “to have at avail,” meaning to have the advantage of, and then transferring to a call by a challenger that “_I_ have _you_ at avail,” leading, eventually, to a shortening in which “avail” was dropped as understood (at the time). \*Actually “Hym thought no worship to haue a knyght at suche auaille, . . .” ---
**Author:** ![warmgun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@warmgun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warmgun)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-does-have-at-you-mean/92341/5 "2001-11-09T07:38:56Z")
I’m with **Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor**. I would WAGuess it means ‘Have (a go) at you’. You know, ‘to dance’, ‘get ya chum (some)’, etc. If you feel froggy - leap. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-does-have-at-you-mean/92341/6 "2001-11-09T14:19:22Z")
I mostly recall seeing it in the Krazy Kay comic strips, where Ignatz Mouse would heave a brick at Krazy, yelling, “Have at you!” I think I have also seen it in 19th-century novels, usually being yelled by bar patrons at impromptu fights. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-does-have-at-you-mean/92341/7 "2001-11-09T16:26:36Z")
Totally uninformed etymological speculation here, but I bet it’s a corruption of some French expression for “Guard yourself, here I come.” Maybe “Sauvez vous”, or something like that.