fisticuff

[fis-ti-kuhf]

a cuff or blow with the fist.

fisticuffs, combat with the fists.

to strike or fight with the fists.

Nearby words

1595–1605; earlier fisty cuff. See fist¹, -y¹, cuff²

Related formsfist·i·cuff·er, noun

Charles Rush was kind and charitable in disposition, but when exigencies required, would not decline a fisticuff.
The Old Pike|Thomas B. Searight
There was a children's party, and two boys had a fisticuff over you.
The Princess Elopes|Harold MacGrath
He went so far as to admit to himself that he would have liked nothing better than a fisticuff.
The Carpet from Bagdad|Harold MacGrath
In no account of this great conflict is any precision observed concerning the pell-mell and fisticuff parts of it.
Mary Anerley|R. D. Blackmore

If his fairy-godmother had prearranged this fisticuff, she could not have done anything better so far as Killigrew was concerned.
The Voice in the Fog|Harold MacGrath