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Fisticuff vs Fist - What's the difference?

fisticuff | fist |

Fisticuff is a related term of fist.

Fisticuff is a related term of fist.


As nouns the difference between fisticuff and fist

is that fisticuff is (rare) a fistfight while fist is the act of breaking wind; fise or fist can be hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward.

As verbs the difference between fisticuff and fist

is that fisticuff is (chiefly|humorous) to engage in a physical fight while fist is to break wind or fist can be to strike with the fist.

fisticuff

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (rare) A fistfight.
  • *1852 , Eli Bowen et al., The Pictorial Sketch-book of Pennsylvania ,
  • *:Every fifteen or twenty minutes there was a rush to some part, to witness a fisticuff .
  • (obsolete) A cuff or blow administered with the fist.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (chiefly, humorous) To engage in a physical fight.
  • (obsolete) To strike, fight or spar with the fists.
  • *1846 , Making of America Project, The American Whig Review ,
  • *:Do they fisticuff with thunder-snaggs

    • Derived terms

    * fisticuffer

    References

    * * *Oxford English Dictionary , 2nd ed., 1989. *Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary , 1987-1996.

    fist

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) fisten, fiesten, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To break wind.
    • Derived terms
    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of breaking wind; fise.
  • A puffball.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) fist, from (etyl) 'five'. More at five.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward
    • The boxer's fists rained down on his opponent in the last round.
  • (printing) the pointing hand symbol
  • (ham radio) the characteristic signaling rhythm of an individual telegraph or CW operator when sending Morse code
  • (slang) a person's characteristic handwriting
  • A group of men.
  • The talons of a bird of prey.
  • * Spenser
    • More light than culver in the falcon's fist .
  • (informal) An attempt at something.
  • * 2005 , Darryl N. Davis, Visions of Mind: Architectures for Cognition and Affect (page 144)
    • With the rise of cognitive neuroscience, the time may be coming when we can make a reasonable fist of mapping down from an understanding of the functional architecture of the mind to the structural architecture of the brain.
    Synonyms
    * bunch of fives * fist-size * ductus
    Derived terms
    * fisty * iron fist * hand over fist * fistful * rule with an iron fist
    Related terms
    * fisticuff * tight-fisted

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To strike with the fist.
    • ...may not score a point with his open hand(s), but may score a point by fisting the ball.'' Damian Cullen. "Running the rule." ''The Irish Times 18 Aug 2003, pg. 52.
  • To close (the hand) into a fist.
  • * 1969 , Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor , Penguin 2011, p. 29:
    • He noticed Ada's trick of hiding her fingernails by fisting her hand or stretching it with the palm turned upward when helping herself to a biscuit.
  • To grip with a fist.
  • * 1851 ,
    • I am an officer; but, how I wish I could fist a bit of old-fashioned beef in the fore-castle, as I used to when I was before the mast.
  • (slang) To fist-fuck.

    • See also

    * knuckle * punch

    Anagrams

    * *