knuckle sandwich

plural knuckle sandwiches

1. slangA punch to the face, especially to the mouth.

   OKKIE. (Raises his fist, kissing the knuckles menacingly—follows her to bottom of steps.) How would you like a knuckle sandwich?

   1957, Jerome Chodorov, Joseph [Albert] Fields, Anniversary Waltz: Comedy in Three Acts, rev. edition, New York, N.Y.: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., →OCLC, page 20

   2 more examples

   Rather than an embrace, the Babe [Babe Ruth] would most assuredly like to have given a knuckle sandwich to the executives of that candy corps. Or hit them over the head with his 42-ounce bat.

   2002 April 7, Ira Berkow, “Sports of the times: A Babe Ruth myth is stirred up again”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 27 May 2015

   My brother Basil was probably the most protective of me. He would be willing to wallop anyone with a knuckle sandwich (knuckle sandwiches, not knives or guns, were big back then) who messed with me.

   2002, Tony Young, Dalton Higgins, “Cleft Palate/Harelip”, in Much Master T: One VJ's Journey, Toronto, Ont.: ECW Press, →ISBN, page 30