1730We might as well dispute with Dimock on a Coronation Day, as argue with these Writers. They strut, vapour, throw down the Gauntlet, and defy us to take it up Caleb d' Anvers [Nicholas Amhurst], The Craftsman vol. 7, p. 91.
From the late medieval custom to symbolizing a challenge, in French tendre son gantelet. The English phrase dates to the 1540s (figurative use by the 18th century).