Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun plural A fistfight.
  • noun plural The activity of fighting with the fists.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of fisticuff.
  • noun plurale tantum, informal An impromptu fight with the fists, usually between only two people.
  • noun plurale tantum, sports, dated Bare-knuckled boxing, a form of boxing done without boxing gloves or similar padding.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun fighting with the fists
  • noun a fight with bare fists

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From fisty cuffs : fisty, with the fists (from fist) + cuff.]

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Examples

  • Though Holmes was known to engage in fisticuffs from time to time, it is still odd and jarring that those occasional episodes, at least in the trailers I have seen, have been made the focus of the film.

    The Real Sherlock Holmes | Heretical Ideas Magazine 2009

  • Therefore, I'm positive that if we ever engaged in fisticuffs, I would beat that fucking dwarf like a rented mule.

    Dwarf Bodybuilder Wows People With His Dwarf Power 2008

  • Jack is all: talk to the hand, and they're driven to very bloody fisticuffs, which is only broken up by Juliet, who announces that she has changed her mind, as is a woman's prerogative: She thinks Jack is right.

    TVGuide.com: Breaking News 2009

  • Jack is all: talk to the hand, and they're driven to very bloody fisticuffs, which is only broken up by Juliet, who announces that she has changed her mind, as is a woman's prerogative: She thinks Jack is right.

    TV Guide: Online Video Guide TV Guide Picks 2009

  • ` ` We like Ricky's competitive spirit for sure, but we definitely don't need him getting into any kind of fisticuffs, '' Nolan said.

    USATODAY.com 2007

  • There is plenty of time down the line to have the kind of fisticuffs that sometimes come with these debates, as the date of the elections comes closer.

    CNN Transcript Apr 26, 2007 2007

  • We try, as far as possible, to stick to the topic; we don't slag each other off anyone who attempts 'fisticuffs' on this blog will have Solti the ginger cat to deal with, which I don't recommend!

    Wagnerama Jessica 2005

  • The rhetorical trick of belittling the matter by speaking of it as "fisticuffs" will not pass in this discussion.

    Woman and the Republic — a Survey of the Woman-Suffrage Movement in the United States and a Discussion of the Claims and Arguments of Its Foremost Advocates Helen Kendrick Johnson 1880

  • As the MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE said of the imbroglio (while earning bonus points for use of the term "fisticuffs"):

    SPORTSbyBROOKS 2009

  • She actually knows how to use "fisticuffs" in a sentence without sounding smug.

    Maggie's Farm 2008

Comments

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  • Opinions are nearly balanced; the disputants are nearly in a passion; as argument weakens, invective grows stronger; they get from bad to worse; over goes the table, and up jump they to fisty-cuffs.

    - Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 8 ch. 9

    October 7, 2008