fisticuffs

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Pronunciation

• (British, America) IPA: /ˈfɪs.tɪ.kʌfs/

Noun

1. plural form of fisticuff
2. (plurale tantum, informal) An impromptu fight with the fists, usually between only two people.
   • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers, "Virginibus Puerisque,"

     People who share a cell in the Basti[l]le […] if they do not immediately fall to fisticuffs, will find some possible ground of compromise.

   • 1890, Edmondo de Amicis translated by Caroline Tilton, Holland and Its People, Chapter XII

     […] , his head all scarred with the sticks and fisticuffs which he had got in the taverns at Utrecht, […]

3. (plurale tantum, sports, dated) Bare-knuckled boxing, a form of boxing done without boxing gloves or similar padding.
   • 1870, Charles Dicken, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Chapter XVII

     In his college days of athletic exercises, Mr. Crisparkle had known professors of the Noble Art of fisticuffs, […]

Synonyms

• (informal: fight) brawl, fight, fist-fight, punch-up
• (bare-knuckled boxing) prizefighting

Related terms

• fist
• fisticuff
• fisticuffer

Translations

• French: bagarre, rififi (European slang)
• German: Handgreiflichkeiten
• Russian: кулачный
• Spanish: trifulca

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