Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A blow with the fist: commonly in the plural, combat with the fists; cuffs of the fist given and taken.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A cuff or blow with the fist or hand.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rare A
fistfight . - noun obsolete A
cuff orblow administered with thefist . - verb To
engage in a physicalfight . - verb obsolete To
strike ,fight orspar with thefists .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I recall a fisticuff between a town and country boy, about fifteen years old each.
History of the University of North Carolina. Volume I: From its Beginning to the Death of President Swain, 1789-1868 Kemp Plummer 1907
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The trains that were expected to disgorge thousands of fisticuff fans into the Sweetgrass Hills rolled emptily along.
Hicks KO'd In Sticks Bill Kauffman 2010
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The trains that were expected to disgorge thousands of fisticuff fans into the Sweetgrass Hills rolled emptily along.
Hicks KO'd In Sticks Bill Kauffman 2010
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Of course Terrill reported me for this, and my ire was so inflamed by his action that when we next met I attacked him, and a fisticuff engagement in front of barracks followed, which was stopped by an officer appearing on the scene.
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The trains that were expected to disgorge thousands of fisticuff fans into the Sweetgrass Hills rolled emptily along.
Hicks KO'd In Sticks Bill Kauffman 2010
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Action sequences are brief and unimaginative, and neither Vin nor Yeoh get to strut their funky stuff beyond the odd fisticuff or gunfight.
Screenplay Babylon [Review: Babylon A.D.] Sci-Fi Gene 2009
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Action sequences are brief and unimaginative, and neither Vin nor Yeoh get to strut their funky stuff beyond the odd fisticuff or gunfight.
Archive 2009-12-01 Sci-Fi Gene 2009
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In the process, we reliably gathered that the argument degenerated into a fisticuff during which Kingsley gave up the ghost as a result of the severe battering he sustained from his assailant.
Man, 60, Kills Brother-In-Law Over Inadequate Care Of Sister 2008
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Athena got her baby back baby back, baby back without so much as a raised fisticuff.
Archive 2007-02-01 Michael May 2007
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In no account of this great conflict is any precision observed concerning the pell-mell and fisticuff parts of it.
Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004
yarb commented on the word fisticuff
I've never heard this in the singular before. But why not?
January 9, 2008
reesetee commented on the word fisticuff
Because one would use both fists, I'd imagine. :-)
January 9, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word fisticuff
Well, suppose a fight broke out that ended after one hit. You could say the men came to fisticuff.
No, seriously. It sounds like something Twain would have said, doesn't it?
January 9, 2008
reesetee commented on the word fisticuff
Or one of them got all smart-alecked and said he'd fight with one hand tied behind his back, so the other one was all, "Okay, you're ON, sucker!" and he decided he wanted to fight with one hand tied behind his back too.
Mind you, someone else would have had to do the tying.
January 9, 2008