Adjacent Words

Tussle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TUS'SLE, n. A struggle; a conflict. [Vulgar.] [See Touse.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: disorderly fighting [syn: hassle, scuffle, tussle, dogfight, rough-and-tumble] v
1: fight or struggle in a confused way at close quarters; "the drunken men started to scuffle" [syn: scuffle, tussle]
2: make messy or untidy; "the child mussed up my hair" [syn: muss, tussle]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Date: 1629 1. a physical contest or struggle ; scuffle 2. an intense argument, controversy, or struggle II. intransitive verb (tussled; tussling) Etymology: Middle English (Scots) tussillen, frequentative of Middle English -tusen, -tousen to tousle — more at touse Date: 1638 to struggle roughly ; scuffle

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. a struggle or scuffle. --v.intr. engage in a tussle. Etymology: orig. Sc. & N.Engl., perh. dimin. of touse: see TOUSLE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tussle Tus"sle, v. i. & t. [See Tousle.] To struggle, as in sport; to scuffle; to struggle with. [Colloq.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tussle Tus"sle, n. A struggle; a scuffle. [Colloq.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(tussles, tussling, tussled) 1. If one person tussles with another, or if they tussle, they get hold of each other and struggle or fight. They ended up ripping down perimeter fencing and tussling with the security staff... He grabbed my microphone and we tussled over that... James and Elliott tussled. V-RECIP: V with n, pl-n V over n, pl-n V • Tussle is also a noun. The referee booked him for a tussle with the goalie. N-COUNT 2. If one person tussles with another for something, or if they tussle for it, they try to beat each other in order to get it. (JOURNALISM) Pezzo tussled for fourth place with Orvosova... Officials tussled over who had responsibility for the newly fashionable unemployment agenda. V-RECIP: V for n with n, pl-n V for/over n • Tussle is also a noun. ...a legal tussle over who gets custody of the children. N-COUNT: usu with supp 3. If someone tussles with a difficult problem or issue, they try hard to solve it. (JOURNALISM) He is tussling with the problem of what to do about inflation. = wrestle VERB: V with n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Scuffle, struggle, conflict. II. v. n. Scuffle, struggle, contend, wrestle.

Moby Thesaurus

action, aerial combat, affray, agonize, altercation, argument, armored combat, battle, battle royal, bicker, blood feud, box, brawl, broil, brush, buffet, bullfight, clash, clash of arms, close, cockfight, collide, combat, come to blows, conflict, contend, contention, contest, controversy, cut and thrust, dispute, dogfight, donnybrook, donnybrook fair, duel, embroilment, exchange blows, exchange of blows, fence, feud, fight, fight a duel, fire fight, fliting, fracas, fray, fuss, give and take, give satisfaction, grapple, grapple with, ground combat, grunt and sweat, hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight, hassle, house-to-house combat, huff and puff, imbroglio, jostle, joust, logomachy, mix it up, naval combat, open quarrel, passage of arms, pitched battle, polemic, quarrel, rassle, riot, rumble, run a tilt, running fight, scramble, scrap, scrimmage, scuffle, sharp words, shoving match, skirmish, slanging match, snarl, spar, spat, squabble, stand-up fight, street fight, strife, strive, struggle, tauromachy, thrust and parry, tiff, tilt, tourney, tug-of-war, vendetta, wage war, war, words, wrangle, wrestle