Phrase Finder

Put up your dukes

Posted by R. Berg on October 09, 2002

In Reply to: Put up your dukes posted by Ed Stansell on October 09, 2002

: : : : What is the origin of this phrase?
: : : : Thank you.

: : : I do not know when the phrase was first used, but I can tell you a little bit about why it is used.

: : : Duke, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, comes from the middle English/old French work "duc" which comes from the latin word "dux" meaning leader.

: : : "Duke" is slang for fist.

: : : Here is the definition of duke as a verb:

: : : INTRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: duked, duk·ing, dukes
: : : To fight, especially with fists: duking it out.

: : : There might be a first reference to the word used in this way in the OED, but unfortunately I don't have access to it. I hope that helps to shed a little light.

: : : Camel

: : This may be another unsolved mystery like "OK" or "Whole nine yards."

: : First a cute kid story. When my daughter was small, she would windmill her tiny fists and say, "Put up your doops!" I didn't know where she got that until I watched a Peanuts cartoon with her and heard one of the characters (Lucy?) say, "Put up your dukes." Well, I thought it was cute.

: : Another reference has three additional theories: " 'Dukes' for 'fists,' probably honors the duke of York, Frederick Augustus (1763-1820), the second son of England's George III.he was often seen at the racetrack and prize ring. Possibly this led boxers to nickname their fists 'Dukes of York,' the phrase finally shortened to 'dukes' and expressions like 'put up your dukes,' 'let's fight,' becoming common. Or else 'Dukes of Yorks, Cockney rhyming slang for 'forks,' was associated with fingers, then hands, and finally fists, or 'dukes' - with the Duke of York somewhere in mind. Another even more ingenious explanation has it that noses were called 'Dukes' because the Duke of Wellington's nose was big - fists therefore being dubbed Duke busters, which ultimately became dukes." From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

: Could the origin for this phrase be from the fact that the Marquis of Queensbury wrote the first rule for the sport of boxing. Americans, not being entirely familiar with the rank of nobility, may have supposed the Marquis to have been a duke. Thus the association and the result, "put up yours dukes" and nowdays, "duke it out." I may not be right but it sounds good.

: ES

Gee whiz, I thought you were going to say something about John Wayne. That might have sounded good too. It also might not have been right.