dukes

British

/ djuːks /

plural noun

slang the fists (esp in the phrase put your dukes up )

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of dukes

C19: from Duke of Yorks rhyming slang for forks (fingers)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

dukes

The company raised its dividend in April, and some strategists see the potential for a special dividend on the horizon, as the Costco dukes it out with the government over tariffs.

From Barron's ● May 28, 2026

Meanwhile, Abdulmejid and his family lived a glitzy Riviera life, attending dances, we are told, with “four or five kings and any number of princes, dukes and counts.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026

He said Myers illness was physically obvious but as soon as the cameras started rolling "he'd have his dukes up, ready for a scrap".

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2024

I don't know a single person who doesn't, and I will put up my dukes for Ava.

From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2023

She told him that in the Renaissance the most famous dukes were known for their aesthetic taste and patronage of the arts, and this idea appealed to him.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023