handfight

English

Etymology

From hand +‎ fight.

Verb

handfight (third-person singular simple present handfights, present participle handfighting, simple past and past participle handfought)

1. To fight using hands.
   • 1949, Caary Paul Jackson, Rose Bowl All-American, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, page 78:

     The big blond handfought the blockers, drifted with the interference, forced the play wide.

   • 1972, Louis Green, Chronicle into History: An Essay on the Interpretation of History in Florentine Fourteenth-Century Chronicles (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History), Cambridge University Press, published 2008, →ISBN, page 125:

     The general impression left by his account was of a handfought, skilfully contrived victory.

   • 1987, Harry Turtledove, An Emperor for the Legion (The Videssos Cycle; 2), Del Rey Books, →ISBN, page 229:

     A city man, fists flailing, charged Arigh Arghun’s son, who was not much more than half as big. There was a flurry of arms and legs—Marcus could not see all that went on, because he was trading punches with a man who reeked of wine—and the Videssian thudded to the ground. He lay still; whatever Arigh’s handfighting technique was, it worked well.

   • 2010, Charles de Lint, “Berlin”, in Jonathan Strahan, Marianne S. Jablon, editors, Wings of Fire, Night Shade Books, →ISBN, page 384:

     Now maybe you think handfighting a couple of punks in an alley’s okay, or shooting them down like you did Fineagh Steel awhile back, but we’ve all got to play the cards we’re dealt.

   • 2017, Kevin Hardcastle, In the Cage, Biblioasis, →ISBN:

     They worked from the clinch against the ringposts and Daniel handfought to get the Thai Plum, one hand clasped over the other behind the other man’s neck, and there he pinched his elbows together and ragdolled Jung Woo, stepped wide and flung him across the canvas, pulled him back to where knees could be landed if they’d been thrown.