Dictionary

fistic en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /fɪstɪk/

Etymology

From fist + -ic. Piecewise doublet of fisty.

Meanings

1. Of or pertaining to boxing or fighting with fists.
   • Though analyst Gary Galley first said the fistic defeat would probably spell the end for Pittsburgh, he later agreed with his colleagues that Talbot's impression of a punching bag had indeed changed the course of the game. 2009 April 27, Chris Zelkovich, “Sorry folks, but fights don’t turn games around”, in Toronto Star:
   • But she was here interrupted […] by her father's hat being heavily flung from his hand and striking her face. Accustomed to such occasional manifestations of his sense of parental duty, Pleasant merely wiped her face on her hair (which of course had tumbled down) before she twisted it up. This was another common procedure on the part of the ladies of the Hole, when heated by verbal or fistic altercation. 1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “More Birds of Prey”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, 2nd book (Birds of a Feather), page 271:
   • The Englishman, whose right eye was nearly closed, took his corner where he was liberally drenched with water and when the bell went came on gamey and brimful of pluck, confident of knocking out the fistic Eblanite in jigtime. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 12:
   • The fight over this ordinance had as one of its features, a few days ago, a fistic encounter between Robert Oestermaier and Attorney Curtis M. Willock. 1904 March 23, “Is No Longer Virgin Alley”, in The Pittsburg Press, page 3:

Forms

Synonyms

fistical · pugilistic