subs. phr. (pugilistic).—A free fight.
1848. New York Spirit of the Times, 30 Sept. There are good, quiet, easy people in the world who scarcely open their lips or raise their fingers, lest Dogberry So-and-so across the way might take it in high dudgeon, and forthwith demand an explanation or a KNOCK-DOWN AND DRAG-OUT.
1848. E. Z. C. JUDSON (‘Ned Buntline’), The Mysteries and Miseries of New York, xii. p. 83. ‘We must have a fight!’ said Butcher Bill. ‘What shall it be?’ asked Mr. Shorter,—‘a genteel knock down, or a KNOCK DOWN AND DRAG OUT?’
1851. How Mike Hooter Came Very Near ‘Wolloping’ Arch Coony, in Polly Peablossom’s Wedding and Other Tales, p. 146. Mike … in a regular KNOCK-DOWN-AND-DRAG-OUT row was hard to beat.
