duke
noun
(in Continental Europe) the male ruler of a duchy; the sovereign of a small state.
duke
1 American
[dook, dyook]
/ duk, djuk /
noun
-
dukes
plural
-
(in Continental Europe) the male ruler of a duchy; the sovereign of a small state.
-
a British nobleman holding the highest hereditary title outside the royal family, ranking immediately below a prince and above a marquis; a member of the highest rank of the British peerage.
-
a nobleman of corresponding rank in certain other countries.
-
a cultivated hybrid of the sweet and sour cherry.
-
Slang. dukes, fists; hands.
Put up your dukes.
verb (used with object)
duked,
duking
idioms
Duke
2
American
[dook, dyook]
/ duk, djuk /
noun
-
Benjamin Newton, 1855–1929, and his brother, James Buchanan, 1856–1925, U.S. industrialists.
-
a male given name.
duke
British
/ djuːk /
noun
-
a nobleman of high rank: in the British Isles standing above the other grades of the nobility
-
the prince or ruler of a small principality or duchy
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of duke
First recorded in 1100–50; Middle English duke, duc, late Old English duc, from Old French duc, dus, dux, from Medieval Latin dux “hereditary ruler of a small state,” Latin: “leader”; see dux; duke def. 5 dukes (in the sense “fists”) of unclear derivation and perhaps of distinct origin
Explanation
A duke is a member of a royal or noble group. In some places, dukes rule over certain regions, while in others duke is just an honorary title. In the U.K., a duke inherits his title from his parents. Prince William, for example, is the Duke of Cambridge, while his father Prince Charles is the Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay. The equivalent title for a woman is duchess. Informally, duke has a very different meaning in the U.S. — if you "duke it out," you have a fight, and to "put up your dukes" means to clench your fists and get ready to punch.
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:
Awards season is around the corner, with opponents ready to duke it out in the ring of swanky luncheons and Hollywood hobnobbing.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026
Byfield had originally obtained the post after selling a copy of his military memoir to the duke while employed as a tollkeeper.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
"The charitable work of the duke and duchess is a personal matter for them both and undertaken in their private capacity. In short, their position is akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests."
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
Last month, the duke and six other public figures lost their High Court privacy case against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
He's really a duke, but he doesn't know it.
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
In the years since, Duke and his colleagues have expanded on the initial scope of his dissertation to compile more evidence from a larger collection of samples.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
At the time of Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest, the King said the "law must take its course", and the Palace is now distancing itself from the former Duke of York's legal pushback.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
The Tapestry narrates how—following the death of England’s king, Edward the Confessor—William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England and defeated the last Anglo-Saxon king, Harold Godwinson, at Hastings, Sussex.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
“Changes in physical health and sleep can be associated with financial exploitation,” said Duke Han, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Of course, Duke, Nala, and Scruffy had jetpacks, so that made their dilemma a little easier to deal with.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
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
The quality time leads to a beautifully still scene where deep in the dunes, Chani tells Paul, “Your blood comes from dukes and great houses. Here, everyone is equal.”
From Salon ● Mar. 9, 2024
If this ex- panded idea of freedom spread, how safe were the kings and dukes, earls and knights, of England?
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
So for nearly 170 miles, the greatest cyclists from the sport’s heartlands duked it out around the roads of Quebec.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
After losing to world champion Littler in last year's final, Humphries triumphed 11-8 in the repeat as the world's top two duked it out at O2 Arena.
From BBC ● May 29, 2025
As the insects groomed each other, the six types of fungi duked it out among themselves, with no clear winner taking over, the team reports this month in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
From Science Magazine ● Feb. 9, 2023
And we found that the best answer usually lies in the debate, where we land after we’ve duked it out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2022
Eunice rebuked Her thoughts of gentler blood, when these had duked It with the best, and scorned to change their name.
From Men, Women and Ghosts by Amy Lowell
For fans like Hawk, duking it out for tickets on the open market against New York’s 1% was simply a no-win proposition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
The primary bedroom also comes with a fireplace, as well as an expansive walk-in closet and a spa bathroom, perfect for relaxation after a long day of duking it out on air.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 8, 2026
"There is still a transfer fee for anyone who wants to negotiate and we are duking it out with the big boys in France like La Rochelle," said Sanderson.
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2026
“Nickel Boys” “At this stage, two Cannes prizewinners are duking it out for the top spot: Sean Baker’s box-office hit ‘Anora’ and Jacques Audiard’s ‘Emilia Pérez.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2024
Cal and Navy were duking it out for the lead.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
