Fight

[fahyt] /faɪt/

noun
1.
a battle or combat.
2.
any contest or struggle:
a fight for recovery from an illness.
3.
an angry argument or disagreement:
Whenever we discuss politics, we end up in a fight.
4.
Boxing. a bout or contest.
5.
a game or diversion in which the participants hit or pelt each other with something harmless:
a pillow fight; a water fight.
6.
ability, will, or inclination to fight:
There was no fight left in him.
verb (used without object), fought, fighting.
7.
to engage in battle or in single combat; attempt to defend oneself against or to subdue, defeat, or destroy an adversary.
8.
to contend in any manner; strive vigorously for or against something:
He fought bravely against despair.
verb (used with object), fought, fighting.
9.
to contend with in battle or combat; war against:
England fought Germany.
10.
to contend with or against in any manner:
to fight despair; to fight the passage of a bill.
11.
to carry on (a battle, duel, etc.).
12.
to maintain (a cause, quarrel, etc.) by fighting or contending.
13.
to make (one’s way) by fighting or striving.
14.
to cause or set (a boxer, animal, etc.) to fight.
15.
to manage or maneuver (troops, ships, guns, planes, etc.) in battle.
Idioms
16.
fight it out, to fight until a decision is reached:
Let them fight it out among themselves.
17.
fight shy of. 1 (def 12).
18.
fight with windmills. 1 (def 18).
/faɪt/
verb fights, fighting, fought
1.
to oppose or struggle against (an enemy) in battle
2.
to oppose or struggle against (a person, thing, cause, etc) in any manner
3.
(transitive) to engage in or carry on (a battle, contest, etc)
4.
when intr often foll by for. to uphold or maintain (a cause, ideal, etc) by fighting or struggling: to fight for freedom
5.
(transitive) to make or achieve (a way) by fighting
6.
(intransitive) (boxing)

7.
to engage (another or others) in combat
8.
fight it out, to contend or struggle until a decisive result is obtained
9.
fight shy of, to keep aloof from
noun
10.
a battle, struggle, or physical combat
11.
a quarrel, dispute, or contest
12.
resistance (esp in the phrase to put up a fight)
13.
the desire to take part in physical combat (esp in the phrase to show fight)
14.
a boxing match
v.

Old English feohtan “to fight” (class III strong verb; past tense feaht, past participle fohten), from Proto-Germanic *fekhtanan (cf. Old High German fehtan, German fechten, Middle Dutch and Dutch vechten, Old Frisian fiuhta “to fight”), from PIE *pek- “to pluck out” (wool or hair), apparently with a notion of “pulling roughly” (cf. Greek pekein “to comb, shear,” pekos “fleece, wool;” Persian pashm “wool, down,” Latin pectere “to comb,” Sanskrit paksman- “eyebrows, hair”).

Spelling substitution of -gh- for a “hard H” sound was a Middle English scribal habit, especially before -t-. In some late Old English examples, the middle consonant was represented by a yogh. To fight back “resist” is recorded from 1890.
n.

Old English feohte, gefeoht “a fight;” see fight (v.). Cf. Old Frisian fiucht, Old Saxon fehta, Dutch gevecht, Old High German gifeht, German Gefecht.

noun

A party; struggle: the cocktail fights attended by the old man (1891+)

Related Terms

cat fight, dogfight, you can’t fight city hall