Dictionary

knuckle sandwich en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /-wɪtʃ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈnʌkəl ˈsæn(d)wɪdʒ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈnʌkəl ˈsænˌ(d)wɪtʃ/ (General-American)

Meanings

1. (slang) A punch to the face, especially to the mouth.
   • OKKIE. (Raises his fist, kissing the knuckles menacingly—follows her to bottom of steps.) How would you like a knuckle sandwich? 1957, Jerome Chodorov, Joseph [Albert] Fields, Anniversary Waltz: Comedy in Three Acts, rev. edition, New York, N.Y.: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., →OCLC, page 20:
   • My brother Basil was probably the most protective of me. He would be willing to wallop anyone with a knuckle sandwich (knuckle sandwiches, not knives or guns, were big back then) who messed with me. 2002, Tony Young, Dalton Higgins, “Cleft Palate/Harelip”, in Much Master T: One VJ's Journey, Toronto, Ont.: ECW Press, →ISBN, page 30:
   • Rather than an embrace, the Babe [Babe Ruth] would most assuredly like to have given a knuckle sandwich to the executives of that candy corps. Or hit them over the head with his 42-ounce bat. 2002 April 7, Ira Berkow, “Sports of the times: A Babe Ruth myth is stirred up again”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 27 May 2015:

Forms

Translations (1)

sv knogmacka (A punch to the face)