rough and tumble

plural rough and tumbles

1. alternativeAlternative form of rough-and-tumble.

   Everyone fought in these rough and tumbles for the mastery of what was to become one of the world's largest industries.

   1947, Leslie Wood, Nikolaĭ Nikolaevich Evreinov, Harry Alan Towers, Leslie Scott Mitchell, The March of the Movies, page 174

comparative more rough and tumble · superlative most rough and tumble

1. alternativeAlternative form of rough-and-tumble.

present singular third person rough and tumbles · participle present rough and tumbling · participle past rough and tumbled · past rough and tumbled

1. alternativeAlternative form of rough-and-tumble.

   They clinched again, tumbled onto the grass, rough and tumbled, with first one and then the other on top, socking away.

   1932, James T. Farrell, Young Lonigan

   1 more example

   Daddy holds, hugs, kisses, and caresses his young daughter but he rough and tumbles, throws around, and mock fights with his little son.

   2000, Herb Goldberg, The Hazards of Being Male: Surviving the Myth of Masculine Privilege, page 63