different between knuckle vs fistfight

English

Etymology

From Middle English knokel (“finger joint”), from Old English cnucel (“the juncture of two bones; knuckle; joint”), from Proto-West Germanic *knukil, from Proto-Germanic *knukilaz (“knuckle, knot, bump”), as *knukô (“bone, joint”) +? *-ilaz (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Dutch knokkel (“knuckle”), Low German Knökel (“knuckle”), German Knöchel (“ankle, knuckle”), Old Norse knykill.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?k?l/
• Rhymes: -?k?l

Noun

knuckle (plural knuckles)

1. Any of the joints between the phalanges of the fingers.
2. (by extension) A mechanical joint.
3. A cut of meat.
4. (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The curved part of the cushion at the entrance to the pockets on a cue sports table.
5. The kneejoint of a quadruped, especially of a calf; formerly used of the kneejoint of a human being.
   • 1567, Ovid, Arthur Golding (translator), Metamorphoses

     With wearie knockles on thy brim she kneeled sadly downe

6. (obsolete) The joint of a plant.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, The History of Dense and Rare

     In the West Indies there are found , even in sandy deserts and very dry places , large canes , which at every joint or knuckle yield a good supply of fresh water

7. (shipbuilding) A convex portion of a vessel's figure where a sudden change of shape occurs, as in a canal boat, where a nearly vertical side joins a nearly flat bottom.
8. A contrivance, usually of brass or iron, and furnished with points, worn to protect the hand, to add force to a blow, and to disfigure the person struck; a knuckle duster.

9. (skiing, snowboarding) The rounded point where a flat changes to a slope on a piste.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

knuckle (third-person singular simple present knuckles, present participle knuckling, simple past and past participle knuckled)

1. (transitive) To apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles.

   He knuckled the sleep from his eyes.

2. (intransitive) To bend the fingers.
3. (intransitive) To touch one's forehead as a mark of respect.
4. (intransitive, figuratively) To yield.

   Synonym: knuckle under

English

Alternative forms

• fist-fight, fist fight

Etymology

From fist +? fight.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?st?fa?t/

Noun

fistfight (plural fistfights)

1. A fight using bare fists.

Synonyms

• fisticuffs
• bare-hand boxing
• barehanded boxing
• bare-knuckle boxing
• bare-knuckled boxing
• duking it out
• hand-to-hand combat
• hand-to-hand fight

Translations

Verb

fistfight (third-person singular simple present fistfights, present participle fistfighting, simple past and past participle fistfought)

1. To fight using bare fists.

Synonyms

• duke it out

Translations