fisticuff
English
Etymology
fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”). Modern uses as a verb are a back-formation on the plural uses of the noun.
Noun
fisticuff (plural fisticuffs)
- (rare) A fistfight.
- 1852, Eli Bowen et al., The Pictorial Sketch-book of Pennsylvania:
- Every fifteen or twenty minutes there was a rush to some part, to witness a fisticuff.
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- (obsolete) A cuff or blow administered with the fist.
Verb
fisticuff (third-person singular simple present fisticuffs, present participle fisticuffing, simple past and past participle fisticuffed)
- (chiefly humorous) To engage in a physical fight.
- (obsolete) To strike, fight or spar with the fists.
- 1846, Making of America Project, The American Whig Review:
- Do they fisticuff with thunder-snaggs […]
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Derived terms
- fisticuffer
References
- fisticuff in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- “fisticuff” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
- Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.