See put up one's dukes in All languages combined, or 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",
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"form": "putting up one's dukes",
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"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"
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"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",
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"(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": [
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"_dis1": "80 20",
"word": "duke it out"
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"ref": "1980, Eddie Schwartz, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”, in Crimes of Passion, performed by Pat Benatar:",
"text": "Well you're a real tough cookie with a long history\nOf breaking little hearts like the one in me\nThat's okay, let's see how you do it\nPut up your dukes and let's get down to it",
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"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"
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],
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"To take firm action or to show oneself to be committed to such action, as when competing in a sporting event or other contest."
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"(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."
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"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": [
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"present"
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"form": "put up one's dukes",
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"form": "put up one's dukes",
"tags": [
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"name": "en-verb"
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"word": "duke it out"
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"type": "quote"
}
],
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"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."
],
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"raise",
"raise"
],
[
"clench",
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[
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],
[
"body",
"body"
],
[
"stand",
"stand"
],
[
"threaten",
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[
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],
[
"preparation",
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],
[
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]
],
"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",
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"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
134,
151
]
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"ref": "1980, Eddie Schwartz, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”, in Crimes of Passion, performed by Pat Benatar:",
"text": "Well you're a real tough cookie with a long history\nOf breaking little hearts like the one in me\nThat's okay, let's see how you do it\nPut up your dukes and let's get down to it",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
76,
93
]
],
"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."
],
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[
"firm",
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[
"action",
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[
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],
[
"commit",
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],
[
"competing",
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[
"sporting",
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],
[
"event",
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[
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]
],
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"(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."
],
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"idiomatic"
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}
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"word": "put up one's dukes"
}
Download raw JSONL data for put up one's dukes meaning in English (3.9kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (74c5344 and fb63907). 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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