different between fisticuff vs fisticuffs

English

Etymology

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

Noun

fisticuff (plural fisticuffs)

1. (rare) A fistfight.
2. (obsolete) A cuff or blow administered with the fist.

Verb

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

1. (chiefly humorous) To engage in a physical fight.
2. (obsolete) To strike, fight or spar with the fists.

Derived terms

• fisticuffer

References

• fisticuff in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “fisticuff” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?f?s.t?.k?fs/

Noun

fisticuffs pl (plural only)

1. plural of fisticuff
2. (plural only, 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. (plural only, 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

See also

• boxing
• fighting