duke

noun \ ˈdük also ˈdyük \

Updated on: 20 Apr 2018

Definition of duke

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

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

slang : fist, hand —usually used in plural

—

dukedom

play \-dəm\ noun

See duke defined for English-language learners

See duke defined for kids

Examples of duke in a Sentence

Put up your dukes and fight, you coward!

Recent Examples of duke from the Web

Amal looked stylish as ever wearing a floral fur coat and leather leggings attached to a pair of denim daisy dukes from designer Alexander Wang.

— maria pasquini, PEOPLE.com, "Date Night! George and Amal Clooney Step Out for Romantic Dinner in New York City," 6 Apr. 2018
Meanwhile, Louis was picking a fight in Normandy with its current duke (and hopeful heir to the English throne), 17-year-old Henry Plantagenet.

— anne thériault, Longreads, "Queens of Infamy: Eleanor of Aquitaine," 4 Apr. 2018
And things got competitive for the duke and duchess on this last special outing.

— hilary weaver, Vanities, "Sporty Kate Middleton Returns for One Last Pre-Baby Royal Outing," 22 Mar. 2018
Kevin Heenan, the thin-goggled duke with 30-foot range.

— tom corvin, latimes.com, "Remember the Titans: Forty years after Cal State Who, Fullerton takes on Purdue," 15 Mar. 2018
But the duke, a tough, talented mountain climber as well as a polar explorer, understood that the harrowing K2 was worthy of his attention.

— howard schneider, WSJ, "‘To the Edges of the Earth’ Review: Going to Extremes," 15 Mar. 2018
Such was the case with Henry IV, duke of Saxony, and his bride, Catherine of Mecklenburg, whose 1514 portraits by the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder were opulently adorned in the colors of their coats of arms.

— cath pound, New York Times, "When the Old Masters Were the P.R. Agents of the Rich and Powerful," 14 Mar. 2018
The duke’s wife, Wallis Warfield Simpson, was sleeping in another room.

— mary carole mccauley, Detroit Free Press, "Books: Biography revisits the American who scandalized Britain," 24 Feb. 2018
The Maldives is so popular that even the royal couple, the duke and duchess of Cambridge, spent a few romantic days there before their tour of New Zealand and Australia in 2014.

— jane onyanga-omara, USA TODAY, "Why is this honeymoon destination in disarray? Maldives explained," 23 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'duke.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of duke

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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 12th century

See Words from the same year

Other Government and Politics Terms

agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, popular sovereignty, socialism

duke

verb

Definition of duke

duked; duking

intransitive verb

: fight

— duke it out

: to engage in a fight and especially a fistfight

See duke defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of duke from the Web

As artists duke it out with brushes and paints, Escajeda slays with beats and riffs.

— liz ohanesian, Los Angeles Magazine, "A Masked Musician From Boyle Heights Is Using Technology to Build Community," 13 Apr. 2018
The interests of space and time preclude me from delving deeply into the GTLM grid, where the Ford GT, Corvette C7.R, Porsche 911 RSR, Ferrari 488 GTE, and now BMW M8 GTLM duke it out.

— jonathan m. gitlin, Ars Technica, "A packed grid of prototypes battles it at a record-breaking Daytona 24-hour race," 29 Jan. 2018
Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-New Jersey, would duke it out for the Democratic nod.

— azcentral, "John McCain's 2000 presidential run saw challenges, 'ugly' politics," 2 Apr. 2018
April 2 The Michigan Wolverines and the Villanova Wildcats will duke it out in San Antonio for the national title.

— zoe szathmary, Fox News, "March Madness 2018 schedule and what to know," 2 Apr. 2018
Primary season is here, and there are LOT of important contests to watch through the spring and summer as the parties duke it out.

— carrie dann, NBC News, "First Read's 10 Primary Races to Watch," 27 Mar. 2018
President Trump and former Veep Joe Biden got into a public tussle that had both men talking about their fighting prowess and threatening to duke it out.

— kristen bellstrom, Fortune, "Lena Waithe, Vanity Fair, Trump Biden Fight: Broadsheet March 23," 23 Mar. 2018
These two will duke it out throughout the spring and the battle is expected to bleed into the summer -- as long as both stick around.

— rainer sabin, AL.com, "Five storylines to watch during Alabama spring drills," 19 Mar. 2018
Though the listing had been up for Over the weekend, the event caught fire on Twitter among Clinton and Sanders supporters, who still regularly duke it out on social media.

— alex seitz-wald, NBC News, "Pro-Bernie Sanders group cancels Hillary Clinton protest," 19 Mar. 2018

First Known Use of duke

circa 1947

Duke

biographical name \ ˈdük , ˈdyük \

Definition of Duke

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

DUKE Defined for English Language Learners

duke

noun

Definition of duke for English Language Learners

: a man of very high rank in the British nobility
: the ruler of an independent area of land especially in some parts of Europe in the past
dukes : fists or hands