SCUFFLE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Scuffle

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/skˈəfəl/ Listen

noun

Scuffle n.

1.

A rough, haphazard struggle, or trial of strength; a disorderly wrestling at close quarters.

2.

Hence, a confused contest; a tumultuous struggle for superiority; a fight. "The dog leaps upon the serpent, and tears it to pieces; but in the scuffle the cradle happened to be overturned."

3.

A child's pinafore or bib. (Prov. Eng.)

4.

A garden hoe. (Prov. Eng.)

verb

Scuffle v. i. (past & past part. scuffled; pres. part. scuffling)

1.

To strive or struggle with a close grapple; to wrestle in a rough fashion.

2.

Hence, to strive or contend tumultuously; to struggle confusedly or at haphazard. "A gallant man had rather fight to great disadvantage in the field, in an orderly way, than scuffle with an undisciplined rabble."

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Etymology of 'Scuffle'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scuffle" Quotes from Famous Books

... I guess our downing them sausages was a bit too for Hans. Directly after that they started the hottest barrage fire you've seen in a month of Sundays. Keepin' it up yet, only they've slacked a bit along here. I kept thinkin' how I was going to get out of this when I heard the tramp and scuffle of advancing infantry. ...

— Our Pilots in the Air • Captain William B. Perry

... cried Potts, snatching up his horsewhip, which he had dropped in the previous scuffle, and brandishing it fiercely. "I ...

— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth

... in the conversation for some minutes; at length, screams were heard, and the noise of men's feet, as if engaged in a scuffle upon the stairs, for the hall-door lay open. A light, too, was seen, but it appeared to have been blown out; the same noise of feet tramping, as if still in a tumult, approached the door, and almost immediately afterwards Flanagan's party approached, bearing in their arms a female, who panted and ...

— Fardorougha, The Miser - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton

... march of these events we had heard nothing of Herr von Blenheim, a fact from which I deduced with thankfulness that he was temporarily stunned. Unluckily, he now recovered. As I stood victorious, but breathless, my cap lost in the scuffle and my coat torn, I heard him stirring, and an instant later he pulled himself to his feet and flashed ...

— The Firefly Of France • Marion Polk Angellotti

... roses and appeal vociferously for "Media! media!" The Baron, seeing that we are amused, tosses a coin over their heads. It goes over the lattice and into the street, and the black little troop tear out and fight and scuffle under the window. They come in again and again, but finally, Peruvian patience and Mexican medias being alike exhausted, the Baron rises in his seat looking remarkably ferocious, and addresses them in stirring Spanish. ...

— Under the Southern Cross • Elizabeth Robins

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