pugilist
[pyoo-juh-list]
- a person who fights with the fists; a boxer, usually a professional.
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Origin of pugilist
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pugilistic
Contemporary Examples
For starters, the pugilistic Governor framed his record as being about results, as opposed to partisan politics.
But when a boxer is caught juicing his gloves, the pugilistic community turns away in disgust.
I pressed Stevens about the risk to his candidate of such a pugilistic approach.
Sin City brought out the devil in the GOP candidates tonight, delivering the most pugilistic Republican Party debate to date.
Historical Examples
Ash-Can Sam was wounded—not so much in body as in pugilistic pride.
A Night OutEdward Peple
Dodo; he's too—not pugilistic—the other one with a pug-naceous.
The Skin Game (Fourth Series Plays)John Galsworthy
And there followed him "big John Brown," of mathematical and pugilistic renown.
An Australian LassieLilian Turner
Bore (Pugilistic), to press a man to the ropes of the ring by superior weight.
The Slang DictionaryJohn Camden Hotten
Cock, a pugilistic term for a man who is knocked out of time.
The Slang DictionaryJohn Camden Hotten
Word Origin and History for pugilistic
pugilist
n.
1789, from Latin pugil "boxer, fist-fighter," related to pugnus "a fist" (see pugnacious) + -ist. Related: Pugilistic (1789); pugilistically. Pugil occasionally turns up in English as "boxer, fist-fighter" (from 1640s), but it has not caught on. Pugil stick (1962) was introduced by U.S. military as a substitute for rifles in bayonet drills.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper