fisticuffs

noun

1. (form-of, plural, plural-only)plural of fisticuff
2. (informal, plural, plural-only)An impromptu fight with the fists, usually between only two people.

   “So he obſerves that all ſimple Governments are apt to ſome evil that is peculiar and conſequential to their Nature, as he inſtanceth in a Kingdom changed into Monarchy abſolute, by which he means that which we now call Tyranny; Ariſtocracy into Oligarchy, and Democracy into Beſtial Chirocracy, when the Seditious of people prevail more by Fiſticuffs than reaſon: […]”

   “People who share a cell in the Basti[l]le […] if they do not immediately fall to fisticuffs, will find some possible ground of compromise.”

   “[…], his head all scarred with the sticks and fisticuffs which he had got in the taverns at Utrecht, […]”

3. (dated, plural, plural-only)Bare-knuckled boxing, a form of boxing done without boxing gloves or similar padding.

   “In his college days of athletic exercises, Mr. Crisparkle had known professors of the Noble Art of fisticuffs, […]”