fisticuff
Americannoun
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a cuff or blow with the fist.
-
fisticuffs, combat with the fists.
verb (used with or without object)
Other Word Forms
- fisticuffer noun
Etymology
Origin of fisticuff
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.
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.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
If his fairy-godmother had prearranged this fisticuff, she could not have done anything better so far as Killigrew was concerned.
From The Voice in the Fog by MacGrath, Harold
But one day, to show his own wonderful powers of fisticuff, the king summoned a crowd of his warriors to his palace, and made them form a great ring.
From O'er Many Lands, on Many Seas by Stables, Gordon
Ireland and Scotland were about to set to; Erin was going to fisticuff Gajothel.
From The Man Who Laughs by Hugo, Victor
He had a fisticuff encounter with "Cerro Gordo" Williams, in which he came out victorious, having knocked Williams into the gutter.
From Fifty Years of Public Service by Cullom, Shelby M.
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.
