Cut And Thrust Meaning

(idiomatic) A vehement argument

Example:   He never got used to the cut and thrust of political debate.
1821, Hazlitt, Table Talk, Character of Cobbett:
  He likes the cut and thrust, the falls, bruises, and dry blows of an argument: as to any good or useful results that may come of the amicable settling of it, any one is welcome to them for him.