Forms: α. 1 feoht(e, 2–3 fiht(e, 3 fæht(e, fahte, feht(e, south. veht, feiht, (feoht, fith, fiþt, fyȝte), 3–5 fiȝt(e, south. 3 vihte, 4 vi(y)ȝt, (4 feȝt, ficht, fyhte, south. vyhte, fyth), 4–5 fyght, (5 feght, feyghte, fighte), 5–6, 9 Sc. fecht, 8 Sc. (faught), 9 dial. feight, 3, 5– fight. β. 1 ȝefeoht, 2–3 ifiht. [f. next vb.; OE. had three words, feohte wk. fem., feoht and ȝefeoht str. neut. Cf. OFris. fiuchte wk. fem., OS. and OHG. fehta str. fem. (MHG. vehte fem.); also Du. gevecht, OHG. gifeht (MHG. geveht, mod.Ger. gefecht) str. neut.]
1. The action of fighting. Now only arch. in phrase (valiant, etc.) in fight. † In fight: engaged in battle.
Beowulf, 959 (Gr.).
| We þæt ellen-weorc, estum miclum, | |
| feohtan fremedon. |
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. cxliii[i]. 1. God … tæceþ handa mine to feohte.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 151. Beoð stronge on fihte.
c. 1205. Lay., 23208.
| To-gædre heo fusden | |
| and veht heo bigunnen. |
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 275. He watȝ famed for fre þat feȝt loued best.
1340. Ayenb., 219. Moyses ouercom amalec and al his ost, naȝt be uiȝt: ac be his holy biddinges.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., xxii. For Fraunse haue ȝe frely with ȝaure fiȝte wonnen.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. vi. 76.
| Thar syre that hecht | |
| Melampus, and companȝeon was in fecht | |
| To Hercules in hys sair journeis feyll. |
1548. Hall, Chron. (1809), 296. The Erle of Warwick after long fight, wisely did perceiue his men to be ouerpressed.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 113.
| O! be not proud, nor brag not of thy might, | |
| For mastering her that foil’d the god of fight. |
1666. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), II. 5. The Duke of Albemarle was still in fight.
1680. Morden, Geog. Rect. (1685), 88. No River whatsoever, so far from its discharge into the Sea, affordeth more Naval Vessels of strength and sufficiency for Fight.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 223. So that I be not fall’n in fight.
b. In obvious phrases: To † fang, † take (the) fight, to give fight, to make (a) fight.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5515 (Cott.).
| For if þai tak agains vs fight | |
| And þai out ouer vs ha þe might. |
c. 1450. Golagros & Gaw., 762.
| Of thair strife sa strang, | |
| The feght so fellely thai fang. |
1831. Examiner, 89/1. Suppose they … should make fight upon the occasion.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, x. They mustered very strong on that night, had resolved to ‘give fight.’ Ibid. (1847), Childr. N. Forest, xx. We will make a fight for it, and they shall not get in so easily as they think.
1884. Times, 5 March, 5/2. Apparently … he made a great fight.
† c. Method of fighting. Obs.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1638), 89. After the maner of the fight of that time.
1613. Hayward, William I., 77. Afterward the English, being trained to that fight [i.e., the practice of archery] did thereby chiefly maintaine themselues with honourable aduantage against all nations.
2. A combat, battle.
a. A hostile encounter or engagement between opposing forces; = BATTLE 1. Now arch. or rhetorical.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. ix. § 1. Þæt ungemetlice micel ȝefeoht betuh Cretense & Atheniense þam folcum.
c. 1205. Lay., 18693.
| And alle þa seouen nihte | |
| ilaste þat selliche feoht. |
c. 1310. in Pol. Songs (Camden), 190.
| Sire Jakes ascapede by a coynte gyn, | |
| Out at one posterne ther me solde wyn, | |
| Out of the fyhte hom to ys yn, | |
| in wel muchele drede. |
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iii. 58.
| Thou hast talk’d | |
| Of … all the current of a headdy fight. |
1600. Holland, Livy, IX. 327. The conflicts and fights at sea, in the first Punick warre.
a. 1671. Ld. Fairfax, Mem. (1699), 68. This was the issue of Hornsby Fight.
1789. Cowper, Ann. Mem., 1789, 23.
| So I from theme to theme displayed | |
| In many a page historic strayed, | |
| Siege after siege, fight after fight. | |
| Contemplating with small delight. |
1821. Shelley, Hellas, 472.
| Told each to the other in loud mockery, | |
| And with the tongue as of a thousand echoes, | |
| First of the sea-convulsing fight. |
1852. Tennyson, Ode Death Dk. Wellington, 96.
| For this is England’s greatest son, | |
| He that gain’d a hundred fights, | |
| Nor ever lost an English gun. |
b. A combat between two or more persons or animals. Not now usually applied (exc. rhetorically) to a formal duel, but suggesting primarily either the notion of a brawl or unpremeditated encounter, or that of a pugilistic combat.
c. 1300. Havelok, 2668.
| So was bi-twenen hem a fiht, | |
| Fro þe morwen ner to þe niht. |
a. 1400. Octouian, 1091.
| The Sarsyns cryde all yn fere | |
| To hare God Mahone | |
| To help her geaunt in that fyght. |
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., IV. v. 90.
| As you and Lord Æneas | |
| Consent vpon the order of their fight. |
1678. Butler, Hud., III. i. 84.
| The ancient Errant Knights | |
| Won all their Ladies’ Hearts in Fights. |
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, V. 77.
| Nor fear’d the Chief th’ unequal fight to try, | |
| Who sought no more than on his foe to die. |
1818. Shelley, Rev. Islam, I. viii. 3.
| For in the air do I behold indeed | |
| An Eagle and a Serpent wreathed in fight. |
1826. J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 174. You hear … faint far-aff echoes o’ fechts wi’ watchmen.
1840. Blaine, Encycl. Rur. Sports, § 4077 (1852), 1229. New rules of the ring, which were adopted after a fatal fight between Owen Swift (the most accomplished of the light weights of modern times) and a comparative novice, called Brighton Bill.
c. With various qualifying attributes. Running fight: a fight kept up while one party flees and the other pursues. Sham fight: a mimic battle (intended to exercise or test the troops engaged, or simply for display). † Single fight: a duel. Stand-up fight: one in which the combatants ‘stand up’ manfully to each other.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., V. i. 100. I … will … Try fortune with him, in a Single Fight.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, VIII. 751.
| When Herilus in single Fight I slew; | |
| Whom with three lives Feronia did endue. |
1727. in Bailey, vol. II., s.v. Fights, Running Fights [at Sea].
1876. Green, Short Hist., vii. § 4. 411. The running fight betwetn the two fleets lasted throughout the week.
1884. Pall Mall G., 9 July, 1/1. We can all understand a stand-up fight on a clear issue.
1890. Spectator, 20 Sept., 362/2. The sham fight near Grosswardein in Hungary.
3. fig. Strife, conflict, struggle for victory; = BATTLE 7.
c. 1000. Bi Manna Mode, 66 (Gr.). Wearð seo feohte to grim.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 162. Ure Louerd sulf stont þer hi þe uihte.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 20114 (Gött.). Loued scho nouþer fith na striue.
1340. Ayenb., 131. A ueld of uiyȝt huerinne him be-houeþ eure to libbe.
1526–34. Tindale, 1 Tim. vi. 12. Fyght a good fyght of fayth.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 29.
| Servant of God, well done, well hast thou fought | |
| The better fight, who single hast maintaind | |
| Against revolted multitudes the Cause | |
| Of Truth, in word mightier then they in Armes. |
1794. Burns, Contented wi’ Little, 5.
| I whyles claw the elbow o’ troublesome thought; | |
| But man is a sodger, and life is a faught. |
1818. Shelley, Rev. Islam, V. ii. 6.
| How many hearts impenetrably veiled, | |
| Beat underneath its shade, what secret fight | |
| Evil and good, in woven passions mailed, | |
| Waged thro’ that silent throng; a war that never failed! |
4. Power, strength or inclination for fighting; pugnacity. Also in to show fight.
1811. Sporting Mag., XXXIX. Dec., 138/1. Jones shewed game to his discomfiture, and when blind and exhausted, he resigned a contest which he embraced in a moment auspicious to himself, but which ultimately took the fight out of him.
1863. H. Kingsley, A. Elliot, I. xv. 188. Until—something or another happens to make little Eleanor show fight.
1886. McCarthy & Praed, Right Hon., I. vii. 120. They were filled with a wild desire to show that their country had fight enough in her yet.
1892. G. Hake, Mem. 80 Years, lxiv. 272. It was set up by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, a man of fight, in order that his victories might not be forgotten.
† 5. A kind of screen used during a naval engagement to conceal and protect the crew of the vessel. Usually in pl. Obs. See also CLOSE-FIGHT.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., II. ii. 142.
| Clap on more sailes! pursue! vp with your fights! | |
| Giue fire! she is my prize; or Ocean whelme them all! |
1631. Heywood, Fair Maid of West, IV. Wks. 1874, II. 316.
| Go. Then now up with your fights, & let your ensignes, | |
| Blest with S. Georges Crosse, play with the windes. |
1673. Dryden, Amboyna, III. iii. Song.
| Hang up your bloody colours in the air, | |
| Up with your fights, and your nettings prepare. |
1678. Phillips, Fightts in Navigation, are the Waste- [printed Mast-] clothes which hang round about the Ship, to hinder men from being seen in fight, or any place wherein men may cover themselves and yet use their Arms.
1721–1800. in Bailey.
† b. Foremost fight (nonce-use): a breastwork on a rampart; = forefight, L. propugnaculum.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XII. 270.
| They fiercely set vpon | |
| The Parrapets … ras’t euerie formost fight … | |
| The Greeks yet stood, and stil repaird the forefights of their wall. |
† 6. A division of an army in battle array. Cf. BATTLE sb. 8. Obs.
1622. Drayton, Poly-olb., xxii. 221.
| The King into three fights his forces doth diuide, | |
| Of which his princely sonne the Vaward had to guide. |
7. Comb., as in † fight-field, -time. Also † fight-rac’t (? = -racked) a., overthrown in battle; † fight-wite, a fine for taking part in a disturbance.
c. 1611. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. IV. The Decay, 931.
| Till one strict Berrie, till one winding Cave | |
| Becom the *Fight-Field of two Armies brave. |
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, IV. 490. His fall was like a *fight-rac’t towre.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 6267.
| Þat our fos with no faulshed in þe *fyght tyme, | |
| Sese not our Cité, our seluyn to pyne. |
c. 900. Laws Edw. & Guth., xiii. Þæt *fyht-wite.
c. 1250. Gloss. Law Terms, in Rel. Ant., I. 33. Ficthwite, quite de medlée de lamerci.
