Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Fight

Fight (fīt), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fought (fa̤t); p. pr. & vb. n. Fighting.] [OE. fihten, fehten, AS. feohtan; akin to D. vechten, OHG. fehtan, G. fechten, Sw. fäkta, Dan. fegte, and perh. to E. fist; cf. L. pugnare to fight, pugnus fist.] 1. To strive or contend for victory, with armies or in single combat; to attempt to defeat, subdue, or destroy an enemy, either by blows or weapons; to contend in arms; — followed by with or against.

You do fight against your country's foes. Shak.

To fight with thee no man of arms will deign. Milton.

2. To act in opposition to anything; to struggle against; to contend; to strive; to make resistance.

To fight shy, to avoid meeting fairly or at close quarters; to keep out of reach.

Fight, v. t. 1. To carry on, or wage, as a conflict, or battle; to win or gain by struggle, as one's way; to sustain by fighting, as a cause.

He had to fight his way through the world. Macaulay.

I have fought a good fight. 2 Tim. iv. 7.

2. To contend with in battle; to war against; as, they fought the enemy in two pitched battles; the sloop fought the frigate for three hours.

3. To cause to fight; to manage or maneuver in a fight; as, to fight cocks; to fight one's ship.

To fight it out, to fight until a decisive and conclusive result is reached.

Fight, n. [OE. fight, feht, AS. feoht. See Fight, v. i.] 1. A battle; an engagement; a contest in arms; a combat; a violent conflict or struggle for victory, between individuals or between armies, ships, or navies, etc.

Who now defies thee thrice to single fight. Milton.

2. A struggle or contest of any kind.

3. Strength or disposition for fighting; pugnacity; as, he has a great deal of fight in him. [Colloq.]

4. A screen for the combatants in ships. [Obs.]

Up with your fights, and your nettings prepare. Dryden.

Running fight, a fight in which the enemy is continually chased; also, one which continues without definite end or result.

Syn. — Combat; engagement; contest; struggle; encounter; fray; affray; action; conflict. See Battle.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.