Contention
Contention
#720. Contention. -- N. contention, strife; contest,
contestation[obs]; struggle; belligerency; opposition &c. 708.
- controversy, polemics; debate &c. (discussion) 476; war of words,
logomachy[obs], litigation; paper war; high words &c. (quarrel) 713;
sparring &c. v.
- competition, rivalry; corrivalry[obs], corrivalship[obs], agonism|,
concours[obs], match, race, horse racing, heat, steeple chase, handicap;
regatta; field day; sham fight, Derby day; turf, sporting, bullfight,
tauromachy[obs], gymkhana[obs]; boat race, torpids[obs].
- wrestling, greco-roman wrestling; pugilism, boxing, fisticuffs, the
manly art of self-defense; spar, mill, set-to, round, bout, event, prize
fighting; quarterstaff, single stick; gladiatorship[obs], gymnastics;
jiujitsu, jujutsu, kooshti[obs], sumo; athletics, athletic sports; games
of skill &c. 840.
- shindy[obs]; fracas &c. (discord) 713; clash of arms; tussle,
scuffle, broil, fray; affray, affrayment|; velitation|; colluctation|,
luctation[obs]; brabble[obs], brigue|, scramble, melee, scrimmage,
stramash[obs], bushfighting[obs].
- free fight, stand up fight, hand to hand, running fight.
- conflict, skirmish; rencounter[obs], encounter; rencontre[obs],
collision, affair, brush, fight; battle, battle royal; combat, action,
engagement, joust, tournament; tilt, tilting [medieval times];
tournay[obs], list; pitched battle.
- death struggle, struggle for life or death, life or death struggle,
Armageddon[obs].
- hard knocks, sharp contest, tug of war.
- naval engagement, naumachia[obs], sea fight.
- duel, duello[It]; single combat, monomachy[obs], satisfaction,
passage d'armes[Fr], passage of arms, affair of honor; triangular duel;
hostile meeting, digladiation[obs]; deeds of arms, feats of arms; appeal
to arms &c. (warfare) 722.
- pugnacity; combativeness &c. adj.; bone of contention &c. 713.
- V. contend; contest, strive, struggle, scramble, wrestle; spar,
square; exchange blows, exchange fisticuffs; fib|!, justle[obs], tussle,
tilt, box, stave, fence; skirmish; pickeer[obs]; fight &c. (war) 722;
wrangle &c. (quarrel) 713.
- contend &c. with, grapple with, engage with, close with, buckle with,
bandy with, try conclusions with, have a brush &c. n. with, tilt with;
encounter, fall foul of, pitch into, clapperclaw[obs], run a tilt at;
oppose &c. 708; reluct.
- join issue, come to blows, go to loggerheads, set to, come to the
scratch, exchange shots, measure swords, meet hand to hand; take up the
cudgels, take up the glove, take up the gauntlet; enter the lists; couch
one's lance; give satisfaction; appeal to arms &c. (warfare) 722.
- lay about one; break the peace.
- compete with, cope with, vie with, race with; outvie[obs], emulate,
rival; run a race; contend &c. for, stipulate for, stickle for; insist
upon, make a point of.
- Adj. contending &c. v.; together by the ears, at loggerheads at war at
issue.
- competitive, rival; belligerent; contentious, combative, bellicose,
unpeaceful[obs]; warlike &c. 722; quarrelsome &c. 901; pugnacious;
pugilistic, gladiatorial; palestric[obs], palestrical[obs].
- Phr. a verbis ad verbera[Lat]; a word and a blow; "a very pretty
quarrel as it stands" [Sheridan]; commune periculum concordiam parit[Lat];
lis litem generat[Lat].