bare-knuckle

or bare-knuck·led

[ bair-nuhk-uhl ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

(of a boxer) wearing no boxing gloves:
These are bare-knuckle kids who need to learn a higher level of boxing.
(of a boxing match or other fight) without gloves:
a bare-knuckle brawl.
without regard for rules or niceties; rough-and-tumble:
a bare-knuckle approach to judicial reform.

without boxing gloves:
He’s a scrappy guy who likes to fight bare-knuckle.
in a manner that bypasses rules and niceties:
If we have to take on these land developers bare-knuckle, we will.

bare-knuckle

First recorded in 1880–85; bare ¹ + knuckle

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, my third book, changed my life and put me on bare-knuckle terms with my abilities.

How could it be that this word, and not “what” or “why,” has caused a bare-knuckle brawl at such a stratospheric social level?

After the bare-knuckle brawl Ben Quayle has faced, however, his brother may think twice about following his lead.

A solitary grey line of broken earth ran like a mole burrow up the bare knuckle and vanished over the top.

If to put over cold pies, make it of a small bare knuckle of veal, or of a scrag of mutton.

April 19, 2024tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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