settings
Great Expectations vocabulary
361 vocabulary words, including people, places, music, artists, etc.
help & settings
[x]
-
single combat
-
► definition
Definition:a two-person duel between representatives from each side, with its outcome substituting for a bloody battle
► uses
Uses:
It was not till after some demur that Lismahago obtained a private audience, at which he formally defied his lordship to single combat, in the name of Mr Bramble, and desired him to appoint the time and place.
Tobias Smollett. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771)
---
his hand, directed towards you at the end of an arm stretched out to its fullest extent, appeared to be presenting a rapier at you for a single combat, and that hand was in fact placed so far in advance of the Guermantes himself at that moment that when he afterwards bowed his head it was difficult to distinguish whether it was yourself or his own hand that he was saluting.Marcel Proust. In Search of Lost Time [volume 3]
---
This part of the Course was usually lightened by several single combats between Biddy and refractory students.
Charles Dickens. Great Expectations (1861)
---
After a single combat of some duration they returned, and I saw, to my joy, both in Mrs. Crupp's countenance and in my aunt's, that the deed was done.
Charles Dickens. David Copperfield (1850)
help with search