fightingn.
/ˈfʌɪtɪŋ/ 1. The action of fight v. in various senses; an instance of the same.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > armed encounter > contending in battle > [noun]
fightc893
fighting?c1225
battlingc1300
armsc1325
toilc1330
toilingc1330
befighting1489
fielding1526
combating1594
preliation1640
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 169 Þe feorðe froure is sikernesse of godes help in þe fechtunge aȝein.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 239 He hedde arered and ymad manye werren and manye viȝtinges.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope ii. 310 The fyghtynge of the wymmen.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Esdras iv. 6 The other yt medle not with warres and fightinge.
1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 62 I have had fighting enough..upon these Points of Honour.
1829 P. F. Tytler Hist. Scotl. II. i. 33 It was impossible to come to close fighting.
1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) IV. xviii. 231 While they were..receiving the rewards of their fightings.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > mendicancy > [noun] > beggar > company or class of
fighting1486
beggary?1615
school1779
beggar-clana1821
beggardom1882
1486 Bk. St. Albans F vj b A Fightyng of beggers.
Compounds
General attributive. C1. Simple attributive.
fighting-day n.
ΚΠ
1778 Biographia Britannica (ed. 2) I. 240 (note) He was a coward who had his fighting days.
fighting-face n.
ΚΠ
1879 R. Browning Halbert & Hob 58 With an outburst blackening still the old bad fighting-face.
fighting-gear n.
ΚΠ
1816 W. Scott Pibroch of Donuil Dhu Come with your fighting gear, Broadswords and targes.
fighting-ground n.
ΚΠ
1845 G. P. R. James Arrah Neil I. vii. 144 We might contrive to get into better fighting ground.
fighting-line n.
fighting-order n.
ΚΠ
1883 Daily News 21 Sept. 5/4 Detachments..all in full fighting order.
fighting-ship n.
ΚΠ
1863 P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 185 No fighting ship is worth anything now-a-days without coal and speed.
fighting-song n.
ΚΠ
1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxviii. 379 Now this is a fighting song.
fighting-strength n.
ΚΠ
1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David xviii. 11 My fighting strength, by thy strength, strengthned was.
fighting-trim n.
ΚΠ
1886 J. K. Laughton in Dict. National Biogr. VI. 387/1 The urgent necessity of keeping the ship at all times in perfect fighting trim.
fighting weight n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > [noun] > good health > fitness > fit weight
fighting weight1884
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > boxing > [noun] > weight
fighting weight1884
1884 Boy's Own Paper 2 Feb. 275/1 Twelve stone two was his fighting weight.
1938 L. A. G. Strong Shake Hands iv. 43 Willard's height was six feet five, and his fighting weight in the neighbourhood of seventeen stone.
C2. Special combinations.† fighting-school n. Obsolete a gymnasium.† fighting-stead n. Scottish Obsolete battle-field.† fighting-wise n. Obsolete battle array.
fighting chair n. U.S. a fixed chair on a launch, for use when catching large fish.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > other parts of body of vessel > [noun] > seat in a boat > on fishing launch
fighting chair1950
1950 I. N. Gabrielson & F. R. La Monte Fisherman's Encycl. Note the fishing chair—or ‘fighting chair’ as they are sometimes called.
1967 L. James Chameleon File (1968) ix. 110 He walked over to a revolving chair bolted to the deck... ‘This is the throne from which we catch the marlin... It is called a “fighting chair”.’
fighting chance n. an opportunity of succeeding by great effort.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [noun] > chance or opportunity > chance requiring great effort
fighting chance1886
1886 Harper's Weekly 23 Oct. 678 Not only is the Democratic falling off in off years less than the Republican, but this year the fair ‘fighting chance’ will naturally make it larger.
1894 Outing 24 295/1 The captain decided to..land the sailor so as to give him a fighting chance for his life in the hospital.
1894 Congress. Rec. 1 Feb. 1786/1 He can not be beaten out of hand. He will have a fighting chance.
1971 ‘H. Calvin’ Poison Chasers xiii. 170 To concoct some fiendish scheme that might like give youse a fightin' chance.
fighting drunk adj. colloquial drunk to a state of quarrelsomeness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk > fighting drunk
lion-drunk1592
fighting-tighta1889
fighting drunk1908
1908 Daily Chron. 17 Nov. 4/7 Those who are acting like hooligans or who are ‘fighting’ drunk.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 1 Oct. 3/3 Jim's Sarah she come 'ome fighting drunk the other night.
fighting-tight adj. = fighting drunk adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk > fighting drunk
lion-drunk1592
fighting-tighta1889
fighting drunk1908
a1889 Chicago Tribune (Barrère & Leland) A quarter of a dollar would buy enough sour mash to make an ordinary man fighting tight.
fighting-field n. = battlefield n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > armed encounter > battlefield > [noun]
fieldeOE
place?c1225
fletc1275
champ of battlec1300
champany?a1400
o laundon?a1400
palaestrac1425
battle-stead1487
fighting-stead1487
open fielda1500
spear-field1508
joining-place1513
camp1525
foughten field1569
battleground1588
Aceldama1607
champian?1611
field of honour1611
champaign1614
standing ground1662
fighting-field1676
battlefield1715
1676 J. Dryden Aureng-Zebe ii. 29 In fighting fields, where our acquaintance grew.
fighting-fit adj. fit to fight; fit enough to take part in a fight.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > [adjective] > of health: good > fit
well-breatheda1425
long-breatheda1513
fitly1570
long-winded1578
as fit as a fiddle1603
toned1745
well-braced1859
fit1869
(as) fit as a flea1889
fighting-fit1891
pinkish1949
aerobicized1983
1891 R. Kipling Life's Handicap 313 He did not feel fighting-fit that morning.
1963 Lancet 19 Jan. 174/1 Weatherbeaten ‘fighting fit’ soldiers.
fighting-fitness n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > [noun] > good health > fitness
condition1798
thing1832
fighting-fitness1894
shape1896
fitnessa1935
shape-up1963
1894 H. Drummond Lowell Lect. Ascent of Man 267 Fitness in the stormy days of the world's animal youth was necessarily fighting-fitness.
fighting fund n. a sum of money raised to finance a cause or campaign.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > funds or pecuniary resources > [noun] > set apart for a purpose > for other purposes
alms purse1530
privy purse1565
sinking fund1717
stakea1744
pension fund1757
spare-chest1769
road fund1784
revolving fund1793
community chest1796
provident fund1817
sustentation fund1837
wages-fund1848
slush fund1874
treasury chest fund1877
fall money1883
jackpot1884
provision1895
war chest1901
juice1935
fighting fund1940
structural fund1967
appeal fund1976
1940 Economist 9 Mar. 411/2 The additional proposal that each industry should raise a ‘fighting fund’ to assist its exporters.
1940 N. Marsh Death at Bar ii. 31 Another ten bob for the fighting fund.
fighting-lanterns n. lanterns used during night actions.
ΚΠ
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Fighting-lanterns.
fighting mad adj. colloquial (originally U.S.) furiously angry (cf. mad adj. 6).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > furious anger > [adjective] > furiously angry
grim971
aweddeOE
woodlyc1000
anburstc1275
woodc1275
aburstc1300
eagerc1325
brotheful1330
brothely1330
furiousc1374
wroth as (the) wind1377
throc1380
fella1382
wrothlya1400
grindelc1400
raginga1425
furibund1490
bremit1535
outraging1567
fulminant?1578
wood-like1578
horn-mad1579
snuff1582
woodful1582
maddeda1586
rageful1585
furibundal1593
gary1609
fierce1611
wild1653
infuriate1667
hopping mad1675
maddened1735
sulphureous1751
savage1789
infuriated1796
bouncing mad1834
frenzy1859
furyinga1861
ropeable1870
furied1878
fulminous1886
livid1888
fit to be tied1894
hopping1894
fighting mad1896
tamping mad1946
up the wall1951
ravers1967
1896 W. James Let. 5 Feb. (1920) II. 32 If any other country's ruler had expressed himself with equal moral ponderosity would n't the population have gone twice as fighting-mad as ours?
1952 A. Grimble Pattern of Islands 86 Otherwise..the spell..could not succeed in sending Biribe fighting-mad.
fighting-sails n. (see quot. 1867).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > sail > [noun] > amount of sail set > reduced for action
fighting-sails1627
1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. xii. 58 If you see your chase strip himselfe into fighting sailes.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Fighting-sails, those to which a ship is reduced when going into action; formerly implying the courses and topsails only.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > wrestling > [noun] > place for wrestling
palaestrac1425
wrestling placec1440
fighting-school1535
list1589
wrestling ring1695
akhara1832
wrestling school1835
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Macc. iv. 12 He durst make a fightinge scole vnder ye castell.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > armed encounter > battlefield > [noun]
fieldeOE
place?c1225
fletc1275
champ of battlec1300
champany?a1400
o laundon?a1400
palaestrac1425
battle-stead1487
fighting-stead1487
open fielda1500
spear-field1508
joining-place1513
camp1525
foughten field1569
battleground1588
Aceldama1607
champian?1611
field of honour1611
champaign1614
standing ground1662
fighting-field1676
battlefield1715
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xv. 378 [He] wes ded Richt in that Ilk fechting-sted.
fighting-stopper n. Nautical (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > rigging > [noun] > fixed rigging > rigging supporting mast laterally > specific rope for connecting or tightening
wap1704
shroud-stopper1867
fighting-stopper1881
1881 L. R. Hamersly Naval Encycl. Fighting-stopper, an arrangement of two dead-eyes, connected by rope laniards, and furnished each with a tail of rope. When a shroud is parted in action, the tails embrace the severed parts, and then they are hauled together by the laniard.
fighting-top n. Nautical a circular platform placed at an elevation on the mast of a warship, on which guns and armed men can be stationed.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > spar > [noun] > mast > platform at top of mast > embattled platform on warship
top-castle13..
merlon1790
military top1887
military foretop1895
fighting-top1896
1896 Naval Ann. i. 32 The foremast has two fighting-tops... The mainmast has only one fighting-top.
1915 J. A. Fleming in Nature 14 Oct. 182/1 On board our battleships a range-finder of this kind is placed in one of the fighting-tops on the masts.
1958 O. Warner Portrait Ld. Nelson xii. 352 Fired from above, from a fighting top in the Redoutable, it [sc. a cannon-ball] had penetrated deep into Nelson's chest.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > [noun]
here-weedsOE
weedOE
here-scrudc1275
armourc1325
armsc1325
armingc1330
armouryc1330
harnessc1330
warnementa1400
fighting-wisec1400
gome-graithc1420
graithc1420
armaturea1460
habiliment1470
furniture1569
proof1583
harnessment1610
pewter1622
equipage1633
pamphract1934
society > armed hostility > armed encounter > contending in battle > [noun] > readiness for fighting
fighting-wisec1400
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 267 Had I founded in fere, in feȝtyng wyse, I haue a hauberghe at home & a helme boþe.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1896; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
fightingadj.
/ˈfʌɪtɪŋ/ That fights, able and ready to fight, bearing arms, militant, warlike.figurative.1593 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis sig. Ciiij To note the fighting conflict of her hew, How white and red, ech other did destroy. View more context for this quotation
a. of persons, their attributes, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > armed encounter > contending in battle > [adjective]
fightinga1340
battailant1591
engaged1692
society > armed hostility > war > [adjective] > warlike > of persons
fightya1325
fightinga1340
fadea1400
maliciousc1400
warly1423
bellicose1432
warlike1488
bellicous1536
bellosious1606
debellative1651
Tyrtaean1880
warry1901
a1340 R. Rolle Psalter xiv. 1 Tabernakill propirly is þe mansyon of feghtand men.
?a1400 Arthur 318 Þowsandez ten Of hardy & welle fyghtyng Men.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 3 Þis fiȝting kirke.
c1500 Melusine (1895) 128 xxti thousand fyghtyng men.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. iv. 103 O step betweene her, and her fighting soule. View more context for this quotation
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 59 No more..then Souldiers fight without a fighting Captain.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 233 The fighting men of the garrison.
b. Of natural or mechanical agents.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > violent action or operation > [adjective]
retheeOE
hotOE
strongOE
woodlyc1000
un-i-rideOE
stoura1122
brathc1175
unridec1175
unrudec1225
starklyc1275
toughc1275
wood1297
ragec1330
unrekena1350
biga1375
furialc1386
outrageousc1390
savagea1393
violenta1393
bremelya1400
snarta1400
wrothlya1400
fightingc1400
runishc1400
dour?a1425
derfc1440
churlousa1450
roida1450
fervent1465
churlish1477
orgulous1483
felona1500
brathfula1522
brathlya1525
fanatic1533
furious1535
boisterous1544
blusterous1548
ungentle1551
sore1563
full-mouthed1594
savage wild1595
Herculean1602
shrill1608
robustious1612
efferous1614
thundering1618
churly1620
ferocient1655
turbulent1656
efferate1684
knock-me-down1760
haggard-wild1786
ensanguined1806
rammish1807
fulminatory1820
riproarious1830
natural1832
survigrous1835
sabre-toothed1849
cataclysmal1861
thunderous1874
fierce1912
cataractal1926
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 404 On folde no flesch styryed þat þe flod nade al freten with feȝtande waȝez.
1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Math. Magick ii. iv. 173 These fighting images.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 1015 The shock Of fighting Elements. View more context for this quotation
c. Mining. (See quots.)
ΚΠ
1860 Eng. & Foreign Mining Gloss. (new ed.) 72 Fighting applies to the ventilation when reversed, as the upcast becoming the downcast, and vice versâ.
1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining 105 When the weight or pressure of the ventilating current of air in a mine becomes equal or nearly so in both the downcast and upcast shafts, and no appreciable movement is caused in the air,..the pit is said to be fighting.
d. Of words or speeches. Also transferred. colloquial (originally U.S.).
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > war > [adjective] > warlike > of actions or attributes
warlike1594
fighting1876
1876 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Tom Sawyer i. 23 You're a fighting liar, and dasn't take it up.
1917 R. W. Lardner Gullible's Trav. 209 You know they's lots o' words that's called fightin' words. Some o' them starts a brawl, no matter who they're spoke to.
1930 Economist 23 Aug. 374/2 The trade..has a direct interest in the possible findings of the Royal Commission on Licensing, and ‘fighting’ speeches..should possibly be interpreted with due reference to this fact.
1959 Listener 12 Feb. 302/3 Tom Fallon..came out with fighting if rather catchpenny words.
e. In colloquial designations of various regiments, qualifying the regimental number, in allusion to specific episodes in their history. Fighting Fifteenth: the 15th Hussars; Fighting Fifth: the Northumberland Fusiliers; Fighting Fortieth: the Prince of Wales' Volunteers; Fighting Ninth: the Norfolk Regiment.
ΚΠ
1871 Chambers's Jrnl. 23 Dec. 802/2 The ‘Fighting Fifth’..was distinguished by its men wearing a white plume in the cap.
1888 Nicknames in Army 32 15th (King's) Hussars... The ‘Fighting Fifteenth’.
1890 Standard 25 Apr. 3/4 The Northumberland Fusiliers, better known as the Fighting Fifth.
1891 J. S. Farmer Slang Fighting Fifth... Other nicknames were The Shiners..The Old Bold Fifth..and Lord Wellington's Body Guard.
f. Fighting French n. a name given to the Free French armed forces during the German occupation of France in the 1939–45 war.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > armed forces > [noun] > other nationalities
National Guard1792
black flags1876
service member1890
Wehrmacht1935
Tojo1942
Fighting French1943
Zahal1959
1943 New Statesman 20 Nov. 327/1 Between them, the people of the Lebanon and the Fighting French have made an ugly problem for each other and for us.
1957 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 791 o/1 Outside France, Gen. Charles de Gaulle had started his ‘Free French’ (later ‘Fighting French’) movement as early as June 18, 1940.
Compounds
fighting crab n. (see quot. 1868).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Brachyura (crab) > member of Ocypodidae (fiddler-crab and sand crab)
fiddler1714
calling crab1832
lady crab1844
sand crab1844
sand fiddler1852
fighting crab1868
1868 J. G. Wood Homes without Hands iv. 90 The Fighting Crab (Gelasimus bellator).
Thesaurus »
Categories »
fighting fish n. a Siamese fish ( Betta pugnax).
Thesaurus »
Categories »
fighting sandpiper n. the ruff ( Machetes pugnax).
Derivatives
ˈfightingly adv. pugnaciously.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > fighting > [adverb]
fightingly1632
pugnaciously1836
society > society and the community > dissent > quarrel or quarrelling > [adverb] > quarrelsomely
contentiously1548
brabblingly1564
quarrellously1580
litigiously1608
fightingly1632
quarrelsomely1648
pugnaciously1836
combatively1863
1632 R. Brome Northern Lasse i. iii She frown'd..and look'd fightingly.
1841 J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk I. 60 Why should they be so fightingly inclined?
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1896; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
fightingint.
/ˈfʌɪtɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈfaɪdɪŋ/α. 2000s– fighting.
β. 2000s– hwaiting.
Esp. in Korea and Korean contexts: expressing encouragement, incitement, or support: ‘Go on!’ ‘Go for it!’
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > cry or exclamation > [interjection] > of exultation or encouragement
victory1595
victoria1639
oyee1980
fighting2002
2002 Choe Sang-Hun & C. Torchia How Koreans Talk iii. 46 Fighting! Hwaiting!.. South Koreans shout ‘Fighting!’ in English when they cheer sports teams, ship off children to college entrance exams, and toast each other at a team-building office party.
2021 @justjeonghan_ 24 Feb. in twitter.com (accessed 24 Feb. 2021) You can do it, miss berry... No matter what we are feeling right now will surely make us a better person soon, so just keep on going, ok? Fighting!
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.?c1225adj.a1340
int.2002