PUGILIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pugilist mean? 

• PUGILIST (noun)
  The noun PUGILIST has 1 sense:

1. someone who fights with his fists for sport

  Familiarity information: PUGILIST used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUGILIST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who fights with his fists for sport

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

boxer; pugilist

Hypernyms ("pugilist" is a kind of...):

battler; belligerent; combatant; fighter; scrapper (someone who fights (or is fighting))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pugilist"):

light heavyweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 179 pounds)

welterweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 148 pounds)

super heavyweight (an amateur boxer who weighs more than 201 pounds)

palooka; stumblebum (a second-rate prize fighter)

sparring mate; sparring partner (a boxer who spars with another boxer who is training for an important fight)

puncher (someone who delivers punches)

gladiator; prizefighter (a professional boxer)

middleweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 165 pounds)

light welterweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 140 pounds)

lightweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 132 pounds)

light middleweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 156 pounds)

bantamweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 119 pounds)

light flyweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 106 pounds)

junior welterweight (weighs no more than 140 pounds)

junior middleweight (weighs no more than 154 pounds)

junior lightweight (weighs no more than 130 pounds)

junior featherweight (weighs no more than 122 pounds)

heavyweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 201 pounds)

flyweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 112 pounds)

featherweight (an amateur boxer who weighs no more than 126 pounds)

slogger; slugger (a boxer noted for an ability to deliver hard punches)

Derivation:

pugilism (fighting with the fists)

 Context examples 

Within was a large room with faded red curtains, a sanded floor, and walls which were covered with prints of pugilists and race-horses.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What was the past of this Trevor, pugilist, traveler, and gold-digger, and how had he placed himself in the power of this acid-faced seaman?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Even the honest and brave pugilist was found to draw villainy round him, just as the pure and noble racehorse does.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All his own fights put together had never reduced the pugilist to such a state of agitation.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The young pugilist, who had a curious, lanky figure, and a craggy, bony face, passed his fingers through his close-cropped hair.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I say again that, if the ring has fallen low, it is not in the main the fault of the men who have done the fighting, but it lies at the door of the vile crew of ring-side parasites and ruffians, who are as far below the honest pugilist as the welsher and the blackleg are below the noble racehorse which serves them as a pretext for their villainies.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The famous Master of the Ring was clad in honour of the occasion in a most resplendent scarlet coat worked in gold at the buttonholes, a white stock, a looped hat with a broad black band, buff knee-breeches, white silk stockings, and paste buckles—a costume which did justice to his magnificent figure, and especially to those famous balustrade calves which had helped him to be the finest runner and jumper as well as the most formidable pugilist in England.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)