Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A fistfight.
- n. The activity of fighting with the fists.
Wiktionary
- n. Plural form of fisticuff.
- n. An impromptu fight with the fists, usually between only two people.
- n. Bare-knuckled boxing, a form of boxing done without boxing gloves or similar padding.
WordNet 3.0
- n. fighting with the fists
- n. a fight with bare fists
Etymologies
- From fisty cuffs : fisty, with the fists (from fist) + cuff2.
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.”
“Therefore, I'm positive that if we ever engaged in fisticuffs, I would beat that fucking dwarf like a rented mule.”
“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.”
“` ` We like Ricky's competitive spirit for sure, but we definitely don't need him getting into any kind of fisticuffs, '' Nolan said.”
“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.”
“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!”
“The rhetorical trick of belittling the matter by speaking of it as "fisticuffs" will not pass in this discussion.”
“As the MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE said of the imbroglio (while earning bonus points for use of the term "fisticuffs"):”
“She actually knows how to use "fisticuffs" in a sentence without sounding smug.”
“Just as good, clean fisticuffs add life and excitement to hockey games, so too do verbal dust-ups season the literary scene.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘fisticuffs’.
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Handy Words
List of words and phrases referring to the hand, hands, fist, or derivatives of the Latin manus, beginning with left-handed.
left-handed, double-fisted, fisticuffs, handy, right-handed, two-handed, manual, manumission, manuscript, manually, manustupration, manudiction and 162 more...
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Them's fightin' words
brannigan, fisticuffs, donnybrook, lambaste, fracas, fray, imbroglio, melee, squabble, quarrel, skirmish, stramash and 28 more...
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fight
words for fighting
bout, fight, match, smackdown, blue, stoush, battle, clash, fuss, fray, ruckus, tussle and 91 more...
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Words That Are Fun to Say.
error, acetylsalicylic acid, hemidemisemiquaver, misanthropic, cantankerous, thou, prolixity, wherefore, lozenge, fisticuffs, comparatively, strumpet and 2 more...
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TEN DOLLAR WORDS
brouhaha, foofaraw, ruckus, slumgullion, snollygoster, slangwhanger, slugabed, hodgepodge, rapscallion, muckamuck, hornswoggle, sockdolager and 5 more...
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Dead (or dying) English Words
Inspired by the an old New York Times article and the Dictionary of Dying Danish Words list here on Wordie.
chorine, terpsichore, motorcar, motoring, centigrade, maven, tautology, pleonasm, contrariwise, spatchcock, mascaron, miasma and 29 more...
yarb 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 Oct 7, 2008