fisticuff

Meanings

nounfisticuff (plural fisticuffs)

rareA fistfight.
Every fifteen or twenty minutes there was a rush to some part, to witness a fisticuff.
1852, Eli Bowen et al., The Pictorial Sketch-book of Pennsylvania
1 more example
This clearly was not a case for fisticuffs, even apart from the very natural aversion I had to beat that Shadow—this wandering and tormented thing.
1902, Joseph Conrad, “Heart of Darkness”, in Youth: A Narrative: And Two Other Stories, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and sons, →OCLC, part III, pages 161–162
obsoleteA cuff or blow administered with the fist.
The apprenticeship of the Prussian Crown Princes has always consisted in receiving fisticuffs and cowhidings from their progenitor, the king.
2021, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

verbfisticuff (third-person singular simple present fisticuffs, present participle fisticuffing, simple past and past participle fisticuffed)

present singular third person fisticuffs · participle present fisticuffing · participle past fisticuffed · past fisticuffed

humorousTo engage in a physical fight.
Generously scattering a drop of my fortune on an early morning sea breeze. Should have jumped after it. Grabber at life's banquet follows a fortune to doom. As folk fleece and fisticuff in street.
1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 265
obsoleteTo strike, fight or spar with the fists.
Do they fisticuff with thunder-snaggs […]
1846, Making of America Project, The American Whig Review

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

Cite this entry

APA

fisticuff. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fisticuff

MLA

“fisticuff.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fisticuff. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fisticuff,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fisticuff.