knuckle up
C1 informal inseparable intransitive
In simple words
To get ready to punch someone in a fight.
Literal meaning: To raise one's knuckles upward — i.e., to hold up one's fists ready to strike.
Meanings
1 C1
idiomatic
informal
To raise one's fists and prepare for a fistfight.
"The two men knuckled up in the middle of the car park, surrounded by onlookers."
Grammar: inseparable
Usage notes
Relatively rare and mostly used in informal or dialectal speech. Found more in descriptions of street fights or boxing contexts. More common in American English than British English.
Commonly used with
fight fists brawl opponent street
Forms
Base
knuckle up
I/you/we/they
3rd person
knuckles up
he/she/it
Past simple
knuckled up
yesterday
Past participle
knuckled up
have + pp
-ing form
knuckling up
continuous
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