Meaning
In robust good health and bursting with readiness for action; as fit as it is possible to be. The phrase carries a competitive, military edge: someone fighting fit is not merely well but conditioned for combat, sport or any hard challenge. Especially current in British and Australian English. Often get fighting fit or fit and fighting. Hyphenate as fighting-fit when used attributively before a noun - that hyphenated form is the OED's lemma. Stronger and more colourful than plain very fit; compare fit as a fiddle, already catalogued here, which is unrelated. Regional use: Chiefly British and Australian English.
Origin
A British compound of the 1890s: the OED's factsheet for the adjective fighting-fit gives 1891 as its earliest evidence, in the writing of Rudyard Kipling - verified directly. Its building blocks were freshly sporting: the OED dates the adjective fit in its physical sense, within medicine, horse racing and athletics, to the 1860s. Collins COBUILD Idioms labels it British common, very healthy and ready for action, and Farlex calls it primarily heard in the UK and Australia. Despite the wartime ring, no First or Second World War origin story is defensible on the record: Kipling's 1891 use predates both. The phrase travelled: Danish, Norwegian and Swedish all calqued it as fit for fight.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- fit and fighting
- get fighting fit
Usage Examples
- Six weeks of training camp left him fighting fit for the title bout.
- She is back from the operation and fighting fit, ready for the new season.
- The regiment was declared fighting fit after the winter exercises.