put up one's dukes
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.20 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To raise one's clenched fists in front of one's body and stand in a threatening or defiant manner, in preparation for a fistfight.
Example Sentences
- "The proceedings of the State Democratic Convention, held at Turner Hall, yesterday, were disgraceful enough to bring a blush even to the cheek of a Democrat. "Liar," "snide," "put up your dukes, if you want to fight," catcalls, hooting, and yelling filled up a greater part of the deliberations of the august body."
- "Well you're a real tough cookie with a long history Of breaking little hearts like the one in me That's okay, let's see how you do it Put up your dukes and let's get down to it"
- "The NBC reporter who came to the match on Wednesday told Lafferty "Come on, put up your dukes, we want to see some blood.""
Etymology
Possibly by analogy to a king or other ruler summoning his dukes, and by extension the duke's knights or other soldiers, to battle an enemy. Another possibility is Cockney rhyming slang as explained at duke. It could also be a convoluted--though erroneous--reference to the 9th Marquess of Queensberry (after whom the rules for modern boxing were initially named).