Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To attempt to harm or gain power over an adversary by blows or with weapons.
  • intransitive verb Sports To engage in a boxing match.
  • intransitive verb To engage in a quarrel; argue.
  • intransitive verb To strive vigorously and resolutely, as in trying to overcome something; contend: synonym: oppose.
  • intransitive verb To contend with or oppose with violence or in battle.
  • intransitive verb To wage or carry on (a battle).
  • intransitive verb To contend for, as by combat.
  • intransitive verb Sports To box against (an opponent).
  • intransitive verb To participate in (a boxing match or other similar contest).
  • intransitive verb To cause (a boxer or other contestant) to fight in a match.
  • intransitive verb To contend with or struggle against.
  • intransitive verb To try to prevent the development or success of.
  • intransitive verb To try to extinguish (an uncontrolled fire).
  • intransitive verb To make (one's way) by struggle or striving.
  • noun A confrontation between opposing groups in which each attempts to harm or gain power over the other, as with bodily force or weapons.
  • noun A physical conflict between two or more individuals.
  • noun Sports A boxing match.
  • noun A quarrel or conflict.
  • noun A struggle to achieve an objective.
  • noun The power or inclination to fight; pugnacity.
  • idiom (fight fire with fire) To combat one evil or one set of negative circumstances by reacting in kind.
  • idiom (fight shy of) To avoid meeting or confronting.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To engage in battle or in single combat; contend in arms; attempt to defeat, subdue, or destroy an adversary by physical means.
  • To contend in any way; struggle for the gaining of an end; strive vigorously: as, to fight against disease; to fight in a political campaign.
  • To contend with in battle; war against: as, they fought the enemy in two pitched battles.
  • To contend against in any manner.
  • To carry on or wage, as a battle or other contest.
  • To win or gain by battle or contest of any kind; sustain by fighting.
  • To cause to fight; manage or manœuver in a fight: as, to fight cocks; to fight one's ship.
  • noun A battle; an attempt to overcome or defeat by physical means; a contest with natural or other weapons.
  • noun Any contest or struggle.
  • noun A bulkhead or other screen designed for the protection of the men during a battle; a bulwark. See close-fights.
  • noun Power or inclination for fighting.
  • noun Synonyms Conflict, Combat, etc. (see battle); fray, affray, encounter, affair, brush.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To strive or contened for victory, with armies or in single combat; to attempt to defeat, subdue, or destroy an enemy, either by blows or weapons; to contend in arms; -- followed by with or against.
  • intransitive verb To act in opposition to anything; to struggle against; to contend; to strive; to make resistance.
  • intransitive verb to avoid meeting fairly or at close quarters; to keep out of reach.
  • noun A battle; an engagement; a contest in arms; a combat; a violent conflict or struggle for victory, between individuals or between armies, ships, or navies, etc.
  • noun A struggle or contest of any kind.
  • noun colloq. Strength or disposition for fighting; pugnacity.
  • noun obsolete A screen for the combatants in ships.
  • noun a fight in which the enemy is continually chased; also, one which continues without definite end or result.
  • transitive verb To carry on, or wage, as a conflict, or battle; to win or gain by struggle, as one's way; to sustain by fighting, as a cause.

Etymologies

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

[Middle English fighten, from Old English feohtan, fihtan.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English fighten, from Old English feohtan ("to fight, combat, strive"), from Proto-Germanic *fehtanan (“to comb, tease, shear”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear”). Cognate with Scots fecht ("to fight"), West Frisian fjochtsje, fjuchte ("to fight"), Dutch vechten ("to fight"), Low German fechten ("to fight"), German fechten ("to fight, fence"), Latin pectō ("comb, thrash", v), Albanian pjek ("to hit, strive, fight"), Ancient Greek πέκω (pékō, "comb or card wool", v). Related also to Old English feht ("wool, shaggy pelt, fleece").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English feoht, from the verb. Corresponding to Dutch gevecht, German Gefecht.

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Examples

  • Some say it’s because the White House message machine drones on 24/7 that the best way to fight the war on terror is to be in Iraq, “fight them there, rather than here.

    Printing: Rethinking the Democratic Agenda 2006

  • In the expressions, The man walks -- The boy plays -- Thunders roll --- Warriors fight -- you perceive that the words _walks, plays, roll_, and _fight_, are _active verbs; _ and you cannot be at a loss to know, that the nouns _man, boy, thunders_, and

    English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Samuel Kirkham

  • which oddly enough was a fight that was hosted by pride..fight goes on for about an hour and 15 minutes, and ends with royce gracie forfeiting from exaustion..no submissions or knockouts…

    Yo, Adrian! | Jewschool 2004

  • "You don't have freedom of speech in this country with regard to whether you go fight or whether you don't want to go fight….

    Trouble at San Francisco State: An Exchange Windmiller, Marshall 1968

  • The team's good, but it can't win unless you fight -- _fight_! "

    The Plastic Age Percy Marks 1923

  • So, if any one wants to fight, "-- he looked at Raventik here, but that fire-eater happened to be absent-minded at the moment, and sat with downcast eyes, --" _to fight_, "he repeated with emphasis," he will have to remain at home and fight the walrus -- or the women! "

    The Walrus Hunters A Romance of the Realms of Ice 1859

  • [_They fight on_ Julio's _side, and fight_ Octavio _out at t'other side: Enter_ Laura _and_ Sabina _at the Fore-door, which is the same where Sir_ Signal _stands: _ Tick. _groping up that way, finds Sir_ Sig. _just entring in; _ Laura _and_

    The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume II Aphra Behn 1664

  • Now 33 and creeping toward retirement, the Brooklyn native has another title fight Saturday night at Mandalay Bay.

    Is Aging Zab Judah Still Brooklyn Tough? Ben Cohen 2011

  • You pay to watch a title fight in Vegas knowing that a fighter might get knocked down in the first round.

    IAAF to discuss false start rule after Usain Bolt's disqualification 2011

  • Yuri Foreman brings a record of 28-0 with eight knockouts into his title fight against Miguel Cotto.

    The Showdown After Sundown Sophia Hollander 2010

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