beat one's swords into ploughshares

English

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beat one's swords into ploughshares

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Alternative forms

• beat one's swords into plowshares

Etymology

From Isaiah 2:4 of the Bible.

Pronunciation

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Verb

beat one's swords into ploughshares (third-person singular simple present beats one's swords into ploughshares, present participle beating one's swords into ploughshares, simple past beat one's swords into ploughshares, past participle beaten one's swords into ploughshares or beat one's swords into ploughshares)

1. (idiomatic) To refrain from destructive military or paramilitary acts (war, terrorism, etc.) and put energy and resources to peaceful ends that would otherwise go to violence.
   • 1947, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services, Hearings ... on Sundry Legislation Affecting the Naval and Military Establishments, page 171:

     There are two choices before us: We can beat our plowshares into swords and prepare for war, or we can beat our swords into plowshares and prepare for peace.

   • 2010, Anne Montgomery, “Resistance to U.S. Massacre in Iraq”, in Arthur J. Laffin, Anne Montgomery, editors, Swords into Plowshares:

     What do the 90s mean for those who wish to beat swords into plowshares? First, they call for gratitude to the courageous women and men who nonviolently toppled dictators and tumbled walls.

   • August 24, 2017, With careful tendering, Azim will fructify, in NewsDay (Zimbabwe)

     Since 1987, Mugabe has been the President of the country. Here is a man, who, at independence, made us believe that we had beaten our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks only to torment Joshua Nkomo and his Zapu, as well as innocent civilians.

2. (literal) To convert military technologies to peaceful civilian applications.
   • 1946, Robert Percy Williams, Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1947, page 848:

     And as for “beating our swords into plowshares” in the case of peacetime utilization of actual war implements: The United States Forest Service is testing the Pyrogel (goop) incendiary mixture for burning slash in forest areas. The Chemical Warfare Service in Hawaii is reconverting Napalm incendiary filler into liquid soap for use by the local military. Incendiary bombs have been furnished for experimentation in removing stumps in areas where means other than burning is impossible.

   • 1951, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services. Subcommittee on Preparedness, Universal Military Training and Service Act of 1951, page 916:

     Briefly stated, Mr. Truman pictured how the nations of the world could, through “real disarmament," turn swords into plowshares and transform our armaments "into foods, medicines, tools for use in undeveloped areas, and into other aids for human advancement. This is the goal," the President said, "we must keep before us, and the vision in which we must never lose faith."

   • 1994, Strategic Review, page 41:

     Planning to beat swords into plowshares (Defense Conversion) and providing new, better swords to the current force means more to OSD than maintaining a capability to make more swords in a hurry.

   • 2007 April 8, William Kates, “Animal News to Conserve: Deer or Energy?”, in The Virginian Pilot:

     "It's a classic moment to see one of these deer on top of an ammunition bunker," he said. "You go back to that old saying about beating your swords into plowshares. You put a military base to bed and turn it into a conservation park."

   • 2019, William W Winpisinger, John Logue, Reclaiming Our Future: An Agenda For American Labor‎:

     For the past decade, the IAM has been teaching the concept of beating swords into plowshares—by converting skills, plant, and equipment […]

Usage notes

Often accompanied with "and one's spears into pruning hooks"

Translations