I've come across the phrase "have a heated face off with (or against) somebody" quite often. Sometimes it is used without the indefinite article "a" or used as a noun phrase by using the noun word "face-off".
I can roughly guess its meaning to be "being very angry and ready to fight or quarrel bitterly with somebody".
I consult some dictionaries but can't find this phrase while the verb phrase face off is included. Then how to understand and analyse this commonly used phrase?
I am now highly suspicious of the correctness of this phrase. I just can't accept face off as a noun structure (face-off is a noun structure). Can people say a sentence like "Someone has a (heated) face off" without an object?