subs. phr. (common).—The hand; the fist.
1847. BULWER-LYTTON, Lucretia, II., vii. Is this a h-arm, and this a BUNCH OF FIVES?
1863. C. READE, Hard Cash, xxxiv. ‘Now look at that BUNCH OF FIVES,’ continued the master; and laid a hand, white and soft as a duchess’s, on the table.
1883. Daily Telegraph, April 30, 3, 2. The fingers are bent into such an ungraceful BUNCH OF FIVES, as to be suggestive both of chalkstones and of sausages.
1882. Punch, LXXXII., 133, 1. He smote crashingly down … with a lead-weighted truncheon he held in his dexter BUNCH OF FIVES.
