Word.ws English Dictionary

knuckles up

knuckles up is the third-person singular simple present indicative of knuckle up.

Meaning of knuckle up

Verb

knuckle up (third-person singular simple present knuckles up, present participle knuckling up, simple past and past participle knuckled up)

  1. (informal, chiefly African-American Vernacular) To clench one's fist(s) as though in preparation for a fight.
    • With a resolve to get his son away from these monsters, Isaac knuckled up and mean-mugged his opponent.2012, Vanessa Miller, Latter Rain
  2. (broadly, informal) To approach a problem aggressively.
  3. (slang) To strike or fight.

Questions about knuckles up

What is knuckles up the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Knuckles up is the third-person singular simple present indicative of knuckle up.

Words near knuckles up in the dictionary

  1. knucklers
  2. knuckles
  3. knuckles down
  4. knuckles to
  5. knuckles under
  6. knuckles up
  7. knucklesome
  8. knucklestones
  9. knucklewalk
  10. knucklewalked
  11. knucklewalker

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knuckles up (page history and authors); knuckle up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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