duke.
The male ruler of a duchy (female equivalent: duchess).
Meaning & usage
The male ruler of a duchy (female equivalent: duchess).
The sovereign of a small state.
A high title of nobility; the male holder of a dukedom.
A grand duke.
Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Asian genera Bassarona and Dophla.
A fist.
Put up your dukes!
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dewk- Proto-Indo-European *déwkti Proto-Italic *doukō Latin dūcō Proto-Indo-European *-s Latin -s Latin dux, ducemlbor. Old French ducder. English duke From Old French duc, through Middle English duk, duke, from Latin dux, ducis. Displaced native Old English heretoga. Was present as duc in late Old English, from the same Latin source. Doublet of doge, duc, duce, and dux. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dewk-, which is also the source of the second component in German Herzog. The “fist” sense is thought to be Cockney rhyming slang where “Duke(s) of York” = fork. Fork is itself Cockney slang for hand, and thus fist.
To hit or beat with the fists.
To give cash to; to give a tip to.
I duked him twenty dollars.
To perform the duties of, or rule over as, a duke.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dewk- Proto-Indo-European *déwkti Proto-Italic *doukō Latin dūcō Proto-Indo-European *-s Latin -s Latin dux, ducemlbor. Old French ducder. English duke From Old French duc, through Middle English duk, duke, from Latin dux, ducis. Displaced native Old English heretoga. Was present as duc in late Old English, from the same Latin source. Doublet of doge, duc, duce, and dux. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dewk-, which is also the source of the second component in German Herzog. The “fist” sense is thought to be Cockney rhyming slang where “Duke(s) of York” = fork. Fork is itself Cockney slang for hand, and thus fist.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.