fisticuff

[fis-ti-kuhf]

noun

1. a cuff or blow with the fist.

2. fisticuffs, combat with the fists.

verb (used with or without object)

1. to strike or fight with the fists.

Other Word Forms

• fisticuffer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of fisticuff¹

1595–1605; earlier fisty cuff. See fist ¹, -y ¹, cuff ²

Example Sentences

But Kagan, joined by seven other justices, said, “The occasion in the hypothetical is the barroom brawl, not each individual fisticuff.”

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Haunts where we’d dance and drink and maybe mack, where on occasion we’d scrap alongside one another if someone ended up in a fisticuff, nights it was not uncommon for gunshots to hasten our exodus.

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In this version of ancient Egypt, the gods live right alongside the mortals, towering over them in a fairly jarring visual to viewers and spend plenty of time battling giant monsters, dodging crumbling ancient ruins and bleeding gold during every fisticuff.

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“What we can determine right now from the witnesses and video is that a fisticuff broke out, and then a gunfight directly thereafter,” Chief Boyce said.

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It was not often that my siblings had true fights, but when they did, they were monster, one-on-one fisticuff affairs, and Helen had picked the Mount Everest of fighters.

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Related Words

• bat 
• blow 
• punch 
• shot 
• swing