Take up or throw down the gauntlet

Meaning to issue or take up a challenge and dates from the 1500s in its original literal sense of either accepting or issuing a single-combat challenge, where a gauntlet was a metal-reinforced glove worn as part of medieval armour. If someone threw down the gauntlet in front of another person, and that person took it up, it would mean that single combat could commence. The current figurative meaning dates from the 1600s in the sense of issuing or taking up any type of challenge in any context.