Meaning
Raise your fists and prepare to fight, either as a real challenge or as a theatrical imitation of one. Dated and often playful. In a real confrontation it remains an unmistakable invitation to fight. Regional use: British and American slang; now broadly recognizable.
Origin
By 1859, George W. Matsell's American underworld glossary Vocabulum defined 'dukes' as hands, and the full challenge appears in an Old Bailey trial report from 1874. The source of this slang sense is uncertain. One proposal connects it to Romany 'dukkering,' or palm reading; Matsell also recorded 'dookin cove' for a fortune-teller. John Camden Hotten instead proposed rhyming slang from 'Duke of Yorks' through 'forks' for fingers or hands. Possible early American use and the missing links make that familiar rhyming account uncertain. The Marquis of Queensberry story has no evidence and even mistakes a marquis for a duke.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Put up the dukes
- Put up your dooks
Usage Examples
- The actor grinned, put up his dukes, and began the comic sparring scene.
- Put up your dukes, the schoolboy joked, holding his fists far too low.
- The old champion posed for the poster with his dukes up.