What does duel mean?

Definitions for duel
ˈdu əl, ˈdyu-du·el

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word duel.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. duel, affaire d'honneurnoun

    a prearranged fight with deadly weapons by two people (accompanied by seconds) in order to settle a quarrel over a point of honor

  2. duelverb

    any struggle between two skillful opponents (individuals or groups)

  3. duelverb

    fight a duel, as over one's honor or a woman

    "In the 19th century, men often dueled over small matters"

Wiktionary

  1. duelnoun

    Arranged, regular combat between two private persons, often over a matter of honor.

  2. duelnoun

    Historically, the wager of battle (judicial combat)

  3. duelnoun

    Any struggle between two contending persons, groups or ideas.

  4. duelverb

    To engage in a duel.

  5. Etymology: From duellum, under influence from duo, from duellum (whence bellum), from dāu-.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. DUELnoun

    A combat between two; a single fight.

    Etymology: duellum, Latin.

    In many armies, if the matter should be tried by duel between two champions, the victory should go on the one side; and yet if it be tried by the gross, go on the other side. Francis Bacon.

    To whom thus Michael: dream not of your fight
    As of a duel, or the local wounds
    Of head or heel. John Milton, Paradise Lost, b. xii. l. 387.

    ’Twas I that wrong’d you; you my life have sought:
    No duel ever was more justly fought. Edmund Waller.

  2. To Duelverb

    To attack or fight with singly.

    Who single
    Duell’d their armies, rank’d in proud array,
    Himself an army, now unequal match
    To save himself against a coward arm’d,
    At one spear’s length. John Milton, Agonistes, l. 344.

  3. To Duelverb

    To fight a single combat.

    Etymology: from the noun.

    The challenging and fighting with a man, a certain positive mode of action, by particular ideas distinguished from all others, is called duelling. John Locke.

Wikipedia

  1. Duel

    Duel is a song by Morganne Matis and was her first official single. It was released in March, 2004 not long after Morganne was voted out of the French TV talent show Star Academy (France) peaking the fifth position. Duel was successful both commercially and musically peaking No.23 on French official singles charts and remaining in the top 40 for 12 weeks. It also peaked No.20 in Belgium (Wallonia) and remained in charts for 4 weeks. It was later added to the artist's full-length album Une fille de l'ere which released in 2006.

ChatGPT

  1. duel

    A duel is a formal or arranged combat or contest between two individuals, usually with matched weapons, following a prearranged set of rules or procedures. It is typically governed by a code of honor and performed in order to settle a disagreement or dispute, or defend one's honor. Traditionally, they were common among knights and noblemen, and refusal to accept a challenge was often equated with cowardice or dishonor.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Duelnoun

    a combat between two persons, fought with deadly weapons, by agreement. It usually arises from an injury done or an affront given by one to the other

  2. Duel

    to fight in single combat

  3. Etymology: [It. duello, fr. L. duellum, orig., a contest between two, which passed into the common form bellum war, fr. duo two: cf. F. duel. See Bellicose, Two, and cf. Duello.]

Wikidata

  1. Duel

    A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules. Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among military officers. During the 17th and 18th centuries, duels were mostly fought with swords, but beginning in the late 18th century and during the 19th century, duels were more commonly fought using pistols; fencing and pistol duels continued to co-exist throughout the 19th century. Pistol duelling was employed many times in the Colonial United States until it fell out of favor in Eastern America in the 18th century. It was retained however in the American Old West for quite some time due to the absence of common law. The duel was based on a code of honour. Duels were fought not so much to kill the opponent as to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honour by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it, and as such the tradition of duelling was originally reserved for the male members of nobility; however, in the modern era it extended to those of the upper classes generally. From the early 17th century duels became illegal in the countries where they were practised.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Duel

    dū′el, n. a combat between two persons, prearranged, and fought under fixed conditions, generally on an affair of honour—happily harmless in France: any fight or struggle between two parties: single combat to decide a quarrel.—v.i. to fight in a duel:—pr.p. dū′elling; pa.p. dū′elled.—ns. Dū′eller, Dū′ellist; Dū′elling, fighting in a duel: the practice of fighting in single combat; Duell′o, a duel: the laws which regulate duelling.—adj. Dū′elsome, given to duelling. [It. duello—L. duellum, the original form of bellumduo, two.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. duel

    A single combat at a time and place appointed in consequence of a challenge; a practice which had its uses and abuses, now prohibited.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. duel

    Was the old form of a combat between two persons, at a time and place indicated in the challenge, cartel, or defiance borne by one party to the other. A duel generally takes place in the presence of witnesses, called seconds, who regulate the mode of fighting, place the weapons in the hands of the combatants, and enforce compliance with the rules which they have laid down. In the United States the practice of fighting duels, being declared illegal by statutes, is very seldom resorted to.

Suggested Resources

  1. Duel

    Dual vs. Duel -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Dual and Duel.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. DUEL

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Duel is ranked #61585 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Duel surname appeared 326 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Duel.

    96.6% or 315 total occurrences were White.
    2.4% or 8 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

Matched Categories

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

Anagrams for duel »

  1. leud

  2. lude

  3. deul

How to pronounce duel?

How to say duel in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of duel in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of duel in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of duel in a Sentence

  1. Peter Sokolowski:

    The ability of those spellers was simply greater in aggregate than we prepared for, they were structurally prepared for kind of a duel between two spellers. What they recognized was they didnt have enough words of that very high level, of the most difficult level. ... They were all difficult words, but not the most difficult words. They had already gone through them.

  2. Maine Gov. Paul LePage:

    When a snot-nosed little guy from Westbrook calls me a racist, now I’d like him to come up here because, tell you right now, I wish it were 1825, and we would have a duel, that’s how angry I am, and I would not put my gun in the air, I guarantee you, I would not be (Alexander) Hamilton. I would point it right between his eyes, because he is a snot-nosed little runt and he has not done a damn thing since he’s been in this Legislature to help move the state forward.

  3. Webb Simpson:

    It would be fun to see them duel it out in a tournament here coming up, head-to-head on Sunday.

  4. Ryan McGrath:

    There will be weakness in Irish bond prices on Monday morning. Markets don't like uncertainty but we don't anticipate a big knee-jerk reaction because investors were ready for this outcome, the longer it goes on, the more nervous investors would become. If you had the duel challenges of political instability coupled with a looming 'Brexit' (after Britain's In-Out EU referendum), the Irish bond market would find it very challenging.

  5. Gavin Parry:

    The street is all hot and sweaty for a duel bazooka to be launched on both fiscal and monetary nature.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

duel#10000#16880#100000

Translations for duel

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"duel." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Nov. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/duel>.

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