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Webster 1913 Edition

Fight

Fight

(fīt)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Fought
(fa̤t)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Fighting
.]
[OE.
fihten
,
fehten
, AS.
feohtan
; akin to D.
vechten
, OHG.
fehtan
, G.
fechten
, Sw.
fäkta
, Dan.
fegte
, and perh. to E.
fist
; cf. L.
pugnare
to fight,
pugnus
fist.]
1.
To strive or contened for victory, with armies or in single combat; to attempt to defeat, subdue, or destroy an enemy, either by blows or weapons; to contend in arms; – followed by with or against.
You do
fight
against your country’s foes.
Shakespeare
To
fight
with thee no man of arms will deign.
Milton.
2.
To act in opposition to anything; to struggle against; to contend; to strive; to make resistance.
To fight shy
,
to avoid meeting fairly or at close quarters; to keep out of reach.

Fight

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To carry on, or wage, as a conflict, or battle; to win or gain by struggle, as one's way; to sustain by fighting, as a cause.
He had to
fight
his way through the world.
Macaulay.
I have
fought
a good fight.
2 Tim. iv. 7.
2.
To contend with in battle; to war against;
as, they
fought
the enemy in two pitched battles; the sloop
fought
the frigate for three hours.
3.
To cause to fight; to manage or maneuver in a fight;
as, to
fight
cocks; to
fight
one's ship.
To fight it out
,
to fight until a decisive and conclusive result is reached.

Fight

,
Noun.
[OE.
fight
,
feht
, AS.
feoht
. See
Fight
,
Verb.
I.
]
1.
A battle; an engagement; a contest in arms; a combat; a violent conflict or struggle for victory, between individuals or between armies, ships, or navies, etc.
Who now defies thee thrice to single
fight
.
Milton.
2.
A struggle or contest of any kind.
3.
Strength or disposition for fighting; pugnacity;
as, he has a great deal of
fight
in him
.
[Colloq.]
4.
A screen for the combatants in ships.
[Obs.]
Up with your
fights
, and your nettings prepare.
Dryden.
Syn. – Combat; engagement; contest; struggle; encounter; fray; affray; action; conflict. See
Battle
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Fight

FIGHT

, v.i.
1.
To strive or contend for victory, in battle or in single combat; to attempt to defeat, subdue or destroy an enemy, either by blows or weapons; to contend in arms.
Come and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. Judges. 11.
When two persons or parties contend in person, fight is usually followed by with. But when we speak of carrying on war, in any other form, we may say, to fight against.
Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side. 1Sam. 14.
Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath.
2Kings 12.
It is treason for a man to join an enemy to fight against his country.
To fight against, is to act in opposition; to oppose; to strive to conquer or resist.
The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. Judges 5.
2.
To contend; to strive; to struggle to resist or check.
3.
To act as a soldier.

FIGHT

, v.t.
1.
To carry on contention; to maintain a struggle for victory over enemies.
I have fought a good fight. 2Tim. 4.
2.
To contend with in battle; to war against. They fought the enemy in two pitched battles. The captain fought the frigate seven glasses. [Elliptical; with being understood.]

FIGHT

, n.
1.
A battle; an engagement; a contest in arms; a struggle for victory, either between individuals, or between armies, ships or navies. A duel is called a single fight or combat.
2.
Something to screen the combatants in ships.
Up with your fights and your nettings prepare.

Definition 2024

fight

fight

English

Verb

fight ‎(third-person singular simple present fights, present participle fighting, simple past fought, past participle fought or (archaic) foughten)

  1. (intransitive) To contend in physical conflict, either singly or in war, battle etc.
    The two boxers have been fighting for more than half an hour.‎
    A wounded animal will fight like a maniac.‎
  2. (intransitive) To strive for; to campaign or contend for success.
    He fought for the Democrats in the last election.‎
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern. Then, for a jiffy, I hung on and fought for breath.
    • 2014 July 5, “Freedom fighter”, in The Economist, volume 412, number 8894:
      [Edmund] Burke continued to fight for liberty later on in life. He backed Americans in their campaign for freedom from British taxation. He supported Catholic freedoms and freer trade with Ireland, in spite of his constituents’ ire. He wanted more liberal laws on the punishment of debtors.
  3. (transitive) To conduct or engage in (battle, warfare etc.).
    The battle was fought just over that hill.‎
    • Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859)
      He had to fight his way through the world.
    • Bible, 2 Timothy iv. 7
      I have fought a good fight.
  4. (transitive) To engage in combat with; to oppose physically, to contest with.
    My grandfather fought the Nazis in World War II.‎
  5. (transitive) To try to overpower; to fiercely counteract.
    The government pledged to fight corruption.‎
    • 2014, Ann Aguirre, The Shape of My Heart (page 42)
      I fought a sneeze as Max took my hand and led me into the chapel.
  6. (transitive, archaic) To cause to fight; to manage or manoeuvre in a fight.
    to fight cocks;  to fight one's ship‎

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:fight

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

fight ‎(plural fights)

  1. An occasion of fighting.
    One of them got stabbed to death during the fight.‎
  2. (archaic) A battle between opposing armies.
  3. A physical confrontation or combat between two or more people or groups.
    Watch your language, are you looking for a fight?‎
  4. (sports) A boxing or martial arts match.
    I'm going to Nick’s to watch the big fight tomorrow night.‎
  5. A conflict, possibly nonphysical, with opposing ideas or forces; strife.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess:
      ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?
    • 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
      As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs.
    I'll put up a fight to save this company.‎
  6. The will or ability to fight.
    That little guy has a bit of fight in him after all.   As soon as he saw the size of his opponent, all the fight went out of him.‎
  7. (obsolete) A screen for the combatants in ships.
    • Dryden
      Up with your fights, and your nettings prepare.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:fight

Derived terms

Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: per · result · formed · #763: fight · agree · sit · considerable

Etymology

From Middle English fighten, from Old English feohtan ‎(“to fight, combat, strive”), from Proto-Germanic *fehtaną ‎(“to comb, tease, shear”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- ‎(“to comb, shear”). Cognate with Scots fecht ‎(“to fight”), West Frisian fjochtsje, fjuchte ‎(“to fight”), Dutch vechten ‎(“to fight”), Low German fechten ‎(“to fight”), German fechten ‎(“to fight, fence”), Swedish fäkta ‎(“to fence, to fight (using blade weapons), to wave vigorously (and carelessly) with one's arms”), Latin pectō ‎(“comb, thrash”, verb), Albanian pjek ‎(“to hit, strive, fight”), Ancient Greek πέκω ‎(pékō, “comb or card wool”, verb). Related also to Old English feht ‎(“wool, shaggy pelt, fleece”).

The noun is from Old English feoht, from the verb; compare Dutch gevecht and German Gefecht.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: fīt, IPA(key): /faɪt/
  • (US, Canada) IPA(key): [fʌɪt]
  • Rhymes: -aɪt
Fight (brawl)

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