brawl  (brôl)
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n.1. A noisy quarrel or fight. 2. Slang A loud party. intr.v. brawled, brawl·ing, brawls To quarrel or fight noisily.
[Middle English braul, from braullen, to quarrel.]
brawler n. brawling·ly adv.
Synonyms: brawl, donnybrook, fracas, fray1, free-for-all, melee, scrap2, scrape, scuffle1 These nouns denote a noisy, disorderly, and often violent quarrel or fight: a barroom brawl; a vicious legal donnybrook; a fracas among prison inmates; eager for the fray; a free-for-all in the schoolyard; police plunging into the melee; a scrap between opposing players; a scrape that took place at the mall; a scuffle that broke out in the courtroom. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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