"fisticuff" meaning in English

See fisticuff in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: fisticuffs [plural]
Etymology: From fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”). Modern uses as a verb are a back-formation on the plural uses of the noun. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|fist|cuff|t2=blow with the hand}} fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} fisticuff (plural fisticuffs)
  1. (rare) A fistfight. Tags: rare
    Sense id: en-fisticuff-en-noun--SenHAX1
  2. (obsolete) A cuff or blow administered with the fist. Tags: obsolete
    Sense id: en-fisticuff-en-noun-VSvb~sOk Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 9 59 16 17 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 12 63 10 14 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 10 73 8 9

Verb

Forms: fisticuffs [present, singular, third-person], fisticuffing [participle, present], fisticuffed [participle, past], fisticuffed [past]
Etymology: From fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”). Modern uses as a verb are a back-formation on the plural uses of the noun. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|fist|cuff|t2=blow with the hand}} fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”) Head templates: {{en-verb}} fisticuff (third-person singular simple present fisticuffs, present participle fisticuffing, simple past and past participle fisticuffed)
  1. (chiefly humorous) To engage in a physical fight. Tags: humorous
    Sense id: en-fisticuff-en-verb-aqpIhtW9
  2. (obsolete) To strike, fight or spar with the fists. Tags: obsolete
    Sense id: en-fisticuff-en-verb-sGKbN7GV
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: fisticuffer

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fist",
        "3": "cuff",
        "t2": "blow with the hand"
      },
      "expansion": "fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”)",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”). Modern uses as a verb are a back-formation on the plural uses of the noun.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fisticuffs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fisticuff (plural fisticuffs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1852, Eli Bowen et al., The Pictorial Sketch-book of Pennsylvania:",
          "text": "Every fifteen or twenty minutes there was a rush to some part, to witness a fisticuff.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1902, Joseph Conrad, “Heart of Darkness”, in Youth: A Narrative: And Two Other Stories, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and sons, →OCLC, part III, pages 161–162:",
          "text": "This clearly was not a case for fisticuffs, even apart from the very natural aversion I had to beat that Shadow—this wandering and tormented thing.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fistfight."
      ],
      "id": "en-fisticuff-en-noun--SenHAX1",
      "links": [
        [
          "fistfight",
          "fistfight"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rare) A fistfight."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "9 59 16 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "12 63 10 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "10 73 8 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A cuff or blow administered with the fist."
      ],
      "id": "en-fisticuff-en-noun-VSvb~sOk",
      "links": [
        [
          "cuff",
          "cuff"
        ],
        [
          "blow",
          "blow"
        ],
        [
          "fist",
          "fist"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A cuff or blow administered with the fist."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fisticuff"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "fisticuffer"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fist",
        "3": "cuff",
        "t2": "blow with the hand"
      },
      "expansion": "fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”)",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”). Modern uses as a verb are a back-formation on the plural uses of the noun.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fisticuffs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fisticuffing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fisticuffed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fisticuffed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fisticuff (third-person singular simple present fisticuffs, present participle fisticuffing, simple past and past participle fisticuffed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 265:",
          "text": "Generously scattering a drop of my fortune on an early morning sea breeze. Should have jumped after it. Grabber at life's banquet follows a fortune to doom. As folk fleece and fisticuff in street.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To engage in a physical fight."
      ],
      "id": "en-fisticuff-en-verb-aqpIhtW9",
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "engage",
          "engage"
        ],
        [
          "fight",
          "fight"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly humorous) To engage in a physical fight."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1846, Making of America Project, The American Whig Review:",
          "text": "Do they fisticuff with thunder-snaggs […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To strike, fight or spar with the fists."
      ],
      "id": "en-fisticuff-en-verb-sGKbN7GV",
      "links": [
        [
          "strike",
          "strike"
        ],
        [
          "fight",
          "fight"
        ],
        [
          "spar",
          "spar"
        ],
        [
          "fist",
          "fist"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) To strike, fight or spar with the fists."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fisticuff"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fist",
        "3": "cuff",
        "t2": "blow with the hand"
      },
      "expansion": "fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”)",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”). Modern uses as a verb are a back-formation on the plural uses of the noun.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fisticuffs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fisticuff (plural fisticuffs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with rare senses",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1852, Eli Bowen et al., The Pictorial Sketch-book of Pennsylvania:",
          "text": "Every fifteen or twenty minutes there was a rush to some part, to witness a fisticuff.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1902, Joseph Conrad, “Heart of Darkness”, in Youth: A Narrative: And Two Other Stories, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and sons, →OCLC, part III, pages 161–162:",
          "text": "This clearly was not a case for fisticuffs, even apart from the very natural aversion I had to beat that Shadow—this wandering and tormented thing.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fistfight."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fistfight",
          "fistfight"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rare) A fistfight."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A cuff or blow administered with the fist."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "cuff",
          "cuff"
        ],
        [
          "blow",
          "blow"
        ],
        [
          "fist",
          "fist"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A cuff or blow administered with the fist."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fisticuff"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "fisticuffer"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fist",
        "3": "cuff",
        "t2": "blow with the hand"
      },
      "expansion": "fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”)",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”). Modern uses as a verb are a back-formation on the plural uses of the noun.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fisticuffs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fisticuffing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fisticuffed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fisticuffed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fisticuff (third-person singular simple present fisticuffs, present participle fisticuffing, simple past and past participle fisticuffed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English humorous terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 265:",
          "text": "Generously scattering a drop of my fortune on an early morning sea breeze. Should have jumped after it. Grabber at life's banquet follows a fortune to doom. As folk fleece and fisticuff in street.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To engage in a physical fight."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "engage",
          "engage"
        ],
        [
          "fight",
          "fight"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly humorous) To engage in a physical fight."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1846, Making of America Project, The American Whig Review:",
          "text": "Do they fisticuff with thunder-snaggs […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To strike, fight or spar with the fists."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "strike",
          "strike"
        ],
        [
          "fight",
          "fight"
        ],
        [
          "spar",
          "spar"
        ],
        [
          "fist",
          "fist"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) To strike, fight or spar with the fists."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fisticuff"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.