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dukes

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duke

  [dook, dyook] noun, verb, duked, duk⋅ing.
Use dukes in a Sentence
–noun
1. (in Continental Europe) the male ruler of a duchy; the sovereign of a small state.
2. a British nobleman holding the highest hereditary title outside the royal family, ranking immediately below a prince and above a marquis; a member of the highest rank of the British peerage. Compare royal duke.
3. a nobleman of corresponding rank in certain other countries.
4. a cultivated hybrid of the sweet and sour cherry.
5. dukes, Slang. fists; hands: Put up your dukes.
–verb (used with object)
6. Slang. to hit or thrash with the fists (sometimes fol. by out): He duked me because he said I had insulted him. The bully said he was going to duke out anyone who disagreed.
—Idiom
7. duke it out, to fight, esp. with the fists; do battle: The adversaries were prepared to duke it out in the alley.
Origin:
1100–50; ME duke, duc, late OE duc < OF duc, dus, dux < ML dux hereditary ruler of a small state, L: leader; see dux; dukes “fists” of unclear derivation and perh. of distinct orig.
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Duke

  [dook, dyook]
–noun
1. Benjamin Newton, 1855–1929, and his brother, James Buchanan, 1856–1925, U.S. industrialists.
2. a male given name.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To dukes
duke   (dōōk, dyōōk)   
n.  

  1. A nobleman with the highest hereditary rank, especially a man of the highest grade of the peerage in Great Britain.

  2. A sovereign prince who rules an independent duchy in some European countries.

  3. Abbr. D. or Du. Used as the title for such a nobleman.

  4. Slang A fist. Often used in the plural: Put up your dukes!

  5. Botany A type of cherry intermediate between a sweet and a sour cherry.

intr.v.   duked, duk·ing, dukes
To fight, especially with fists: duking it out.

[Middle English, from Old French duc, from Latin dux, duc-, leader, from dūcere, to lead; see deuk- in Indo-European roots. N., sense 4, short for Duke of Yorks, rhyming slang for forks, fingers.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
duke

  1. in.
    to empty one's stomach; to vomit. (Collegiate. Rhymes with puke. See also dukes.) : She's in the john, duking like a goat.

  2. Go to dook. :
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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dukes

  1. n.
    the fists. : Okay, brother, put your dukes up.
  2. n.
    the knees. : He went down on his dukes and prayed for all sorts of good stuff.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

duke 
1129, from O.Fr. duc and L. dux (gen. ducis) "leader, commander," in L.L. "governor of a province," from ducere "to lead," from PIE *deuk- "to lead" (cf. O.E. togian "to pull, drag," O.H.G. ziohan "to pull," O.E. togian "to draw, drag"). Applied in Eng. to "nobleman of the highest rank" probably first c.1350, ousting native earl. Used to translate various European titles (e.g. Rus. knyaz).

dukes 
"hands" (1874), now mainly in put up your dukes (phrase from 1859), probably not connected to duke. Chapman ["Dictionary of American Slang"] suggests Romany dook "the hand as read in palmistry, one's fate" but Partridge ["Slang To-day and Yesterday"] gives it a plausible, if elaborate, etymology as a contraction of Duke of Yorks, rhyming slang for forks, a Cockney term for "fingers," thus "hands."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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