Meaning

2 senses

  1. (humorous)To engage in a physical fight.

  2. (obsolete)To strike, fight or spar with the fists.

Examples

1 sentences

  1. It ended in fisticuffs.

    ruЭто закончилось дракой.

    deEs endete in Handgreiflichkeiten.

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Origin

From fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”). Modern uses as a verb are a back-formation on the

From fist + cuff (“blow with the hand”). Modern uses as a verb are a back-formation on the plural uses of the noun.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

fisticuffs, fisticuffing, fisticuffed, fisticuffed
Base formfisticuff · to fisticuff
3rd person singularfisticuffs
Present participlefisticuffing
Past simplefisticuffed
Past participlefisticuffed

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyfisticuff
he, she, itfisticuffs

Past simpleLesson

all personsfisticuffed

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave fisticuffed
he, she, ithas fisticuffed

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill fisticuff

Word family

1 related words
Derivedfisticuffer

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
fistfistfightfistulafitA2
fisticuff — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto