See put up one's dukes on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Possibly by analogy to a king or other ruler summoning his dukes, and by extension the duke's knights or other soldiers, to battle an enemy. Another possibility is Cockney rhyming slang as explained at duke. It could also be a convoluted--though erroneous--reference to the 9th Marquess of Queensbury (after whom the rules for modern boxing were initially named).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "puts up one's dukes",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "putting up one's dukes",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "put up one's dukes",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "put up one's dukes",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "put<,,put> up one's dukes",
"head": "put up one's dukes"
},
"expansion": "put up one's dukes (third-person singular simple present puts up one's dukes, present participle putting up one's dukes, simple past and past participle put up one's dukes)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "92 8",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "90 10",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English light verb constructions",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "53 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English predicates",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "92 8",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "94 6",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1886, Edward Money, The Truth about America, page 206:",
"text": "The proceedings of the State Democratic Convention, held at Turner Hall, yesterday, were disgraceful enough to bring a blush even to the cheek of a Democrat. \"Liar,\" \"snide,\" \"put up your dukes, if you want to fight,\" catcalls, hooting, and yelling filled up a greater part of the deliberations of the august body.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To raise one's clenched fists in front of one's body and stand in a threatening or defiant manner, in preparation for a fistfight."
],
"id": "en-put_up_one's_dukes-en-verb-86-KoRHc",
"links": [
[
"clench",
"clench"
],
[
"fist",
"fist"
],
[
"threaten",
"threaten"
],
[
"defiant",
"defiant"
],
[
"fistfight",
"fistfight"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To raise one's clenched fists in front of one's body and stand in a threatening or defiant manner, in preparation for a fistfight."
],
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "80 20",
"word": "duke it out"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "53 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English predicates",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2008, Jonathan Schaeffer, One Jump Ahead: Computer perfection at checkers, →ISBN, page 401:",
"text": "The NBC reporter who came to the match on Wednesday told Lafferty \"Come on, put up your dukes, we want to see some blood.\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To take firm action or to show oneself to be committed to such action, as when competing in a sporting event or other contest."
],
"id": "en-put_up_one's_dukes-en-verb-N0AowbxQ",
"links": [
[
"firm",
"firm"
],
[
"action",
"action"
],
[
"commit",
"commit"
],
[
"competing",
"compete"
],
[
"sporting",
"sporting"
],
[
"contest",
"contest"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, by extension) To take firm action or to show oneself to be committed to such action, as when competing in a sporting event or other contest."
],
"tags": [
"broadly",
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-put up one's dukes.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ea/En-au-put_up_one%27s_dukes.ogg/En-au-put_up_one%27s_dukes.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/En-au-put_up_one%27s_dukes.ogg"
}
],
"word": "put up one's dukes"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English light verb constructions",
"English multiword terms",
"English predicates",
"English verbs",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_text": "Possibly by analogy to a king or other ruler summoning his dukes, and by extension the duke's knights or other soldiers, to battle an enemy. Another possibility is Cockney rhyming slang as explained at duke. It could also be a convoluted--though erroneous--reference to the 9th Marquess of Queensbury (after whom the rules for modern boxing were initially named).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "puts up one's dukes",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "putting up one's dukes",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "put up one's dukes",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "put up one's dukes",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "put<,,put> up one's dukes",
"head": "put up one's dukes"
},
"expansion": "put up one's dukes (third-person singular simple present puts up one's dukes, present participle putting up one's dukes, simple past and past participle put up one's dukes)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "duke it out"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1886, Edward Money, The Truth about America, page 206:",
"text": "The proceedings of the State Democratic Convention, held at Turner Hall, yesterday, were disgraceful enough to bring a blush even to the cheek of a Democrat. \"Liar,\" \"snide,\" \"put up your dukes, if you want to fight,\" catcalls, hooting, and yelling filled up a greater part of the deliberations of the august body.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To raise one's clenched fists in front of one's body and stand in a threatening or defiant manner, in preparation for a fistfight."
],
"links": [
[
"clench",
"clench"
],
[
"fist",
"fist"
],
[
"threaten",
"threaten"
],
[
"defiant",
"defiant"
],
[
"fistfight",
"fistfight"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To raise one's clenched fists in front of one's body and stand in a threatening or defiant manner, in preparation for a fistfight."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2008, Jonathan Schaeffer, One Jump Ahead: Computer perfection at checkers, →ISBN, page 401:",
"text": "The NBC reporter who came to the match on Wednesday told Lafferty \"Come on, put up your dukes, we want to see some blood.\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To take firm action or to show oneself to be committed to such action, as when competing in a sporting event or other contest."
],
"links": [
[
"firm",
"firm"
],
[
"action",
"action"
],
[
"commit",
"commit"
],
[
"competing",
"compete"
],
[
"sporting",
"sporting"
],
[
"contest",
"contest"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, by extension) To take firm action or to show oneself to be committed to such action, as when competing in a sporting event or other contest."
],
"tags": [
"broadly",
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-put up one's dukes.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ea/En-au-put_up_one%27s_dukes.ogg/En-au-put_up_one%27s_dukes.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/En-au-put_up_one%27s_dukes.ogg"
}
],
"word": "put up one's dukes"
}
Download raw JSONL data for put up one's dukes meaning in All languages combined (3.3kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-21 using wiktextract (ce0be54 and f2e72e5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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