dukes

/ djuːks /

plural noun

1. slang.
   the fists (esp in the phrase put your dukes up )

Word History and Origins

Origin of dukes¹

C19: from Duke of Yorks rhyming slang for forks (fingers)

Example Sentences

Altogether, the monks, the Dukes, and the winemakers created a microcosm the influence of which can still be felt today.

From The Daily Beast

The powerful Burgundian Dukes noticed that this parcel made particularly elegant wine each year.

From The Daily Beast

The Dukes of Hazzard were masters of button-popped shirts, teasingly open.

From The Daily Beast

In one of the biggest “gets” of the book, Cohan interviews Robert Steel, who was the chairman of Dukes?

From The Daily Beast

Later, the Dukes of Burgundy appropriated the land and vines were revived by medieval monks.

From The Daily Beast

Later still, for the same reason, when he was making his hierarchy stronger, he created him one of his new Dukes.

From Project Gutenberg

It is there called a "prie-dieu," and is said to have belonged to the Dukes of Savoy, but the size is very unusual for such a use.

From Project Gutenberg

The Dukes set an example of extravagance which was followed by the Barons who surrounded them, and also by the rich bourgeois.

From Project Gutenberg

Ruggiero the elder was so highly valued by the Medici that the two dukes, Cosmo and Lorenzo, stood godfathers to his two sons.

From Project Gutenberg

Nor were the nobles more inclined to exchange the bishops for other rulers, especially if these were to be the Dukes of Burgundy.

From Project Gutenberg