duke

1 of 2

noun

ˈdük 

also ˈdyük

1

: a sovereign male ruler of a continental European duchy

2

: a nobleman of the highest hereditary rank

especially : a member of the highest grade of the British peerage

3

[probably from dukes of York, rhyming slang for fork (hand, fist)] slang : fist, hand

—usually used in plural

dukedom

ˈdük-dəm 

also ˈdyük-

noun

duke

2 of 2

verb

duked; duking

intransitive verb

: fight

see also:

duke it out

Examples of duke in a Sentence

Noun

Put up your dukes and fight, you coward!

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Wouldn’t a visit to a strip club or hiring some entertainment for a private party have been a better option than trying to grab the junk of a statue that was commissioned by a duke back at the end of the 1550s? —Sean Joseph Outkick, FOXNews.com, 23 Apr. 2026

York and the duke of Buckingham catch the duchess in the act of conjuring a spirit. —Gitanjali Roy, Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Apr. 2026

Verb

While Anthropic and OpenAI are busy duking it out over enterprise and government customers, Google is stepping right in to gobble up everyday users that are already accustomed to turning to the tech company to run their email, meetings, and other large swaths of their lives. —Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 22 Apr. 2026

Lawyers for the two sides have been duking it out in court since the filing, with the plaintiffs asking for a preliminary injunction to block the law regarding day cares and both defendants asking the court to dismiss the case. —Idaho Statesman, 21 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French duc, from Latin duc-, dux, from ducere to lead — more at tow entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1935, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing duke

• duke it out
• grand duke

Rhymes for duke

• fluke
• juke
• kook
• luc
• luke
• nuke
• puke
• souk
• spook
• archduke
• rebuke
• caoutchouc

Kids Definition

duke

noun

ˈd(y)ük

1

: a soveriegn ruler of a duchy

2

: a nobleman of the highest rank especially of the British nobility

3

slang : fist sense 1

—usually used in plural

Biographical Definition

Duke

biographical name

ˈdük 

ˈdyük

Benjamin Newton 1855–1929 and his brother James Buchanan 1856–1925 American tobacco industrialists