| | �Duking it out� and �Put up your dukes� are both expressions from the early 1800s when bare-knuckle boxing was considered a lowerclass activity. When Frederick Augustus, the then duke of York took up the sport, English high society was shocked. The �Duke� gained so much admiration from the other boxers, however, that they began referring to their fists as their �dukes of York� and eventually as their �dukes.� |