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Scuffle   /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."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Scuffle" Quotes from Famous Books



... though it doth shame me verily so to speak o' mine own flesh, I saw by her pretending to push him away that she did mightily relish his kisses; for, by my troth! had she sought to scuffle with him 'twould 'a' been as snug an encounter as when day and night wrestle for the last bit ...
— A Brother To Dragons and Other Old-time Tales • Amelie Rives
... is of old standing in Nithsdale. It has mingled blood with some of the noblest Scottish names; nor is it unknown either in history or literature—the fierce knight of Closeburn, who in the scuffle between Bruce and Comyne drew his sword and made "sicker," and my friend Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, are not the least distinguished ...
— The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. • Robert Burns and Allan Cunningham
... Chengchiatun—there is a small Japanese trading community there—approached a Chinese boy who was selling fish. On the boy refusing to sell at the price offered him, the Japanese caught hold of him and started beating him. A Chinese soldier of the 28th Division who was passing intervened; and a scuffle commenced in which other Chinese soldiers joined and which resulted in the Japanese being severely handled. After the Chinese had left him, the man betook himself to the nearest Japanese post and reported that he had ...
— The Fight For The Republic In China • B.L. Putnam Weale
... he informed them briefly, "but I did th' blowke in wot give it me." He launched into a lurid account of a border hill-scuffle that his regiment had been engaged in relating all its ghastly details with great gusto. "Cleared me lance-point ten times that d'y," he remarked laconically. "Flint was aour Orf'cer Commandin'—Old 'Doolally Flint'—'ard old 'ranker' ...
— The Luck of the Mounted - A Tale of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police • Ralph S. Kendall
... ten o'clock, Sheriff Greenleaf, attended by his deputies, again appeared before the house, and again found the doors shut. They, however, entered the cellar by a window, that was partly opened, it is said to let out an inmate,—when, after a scuffle, Mr. Brown declared that the Sheriff was his prisoner; upon which the Sheriff informed the commanding officer of the regiment on the Common of his situation, who sent a guard for his protection. Sentinels were now placed at the doors, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 58, August, 1862 • Various


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