pugil

See also: púgil

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pugillus, pugillum (“a fistful”), akin to pugnus (“the fist”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpjuːd͡ʒɪl/

Noun

pugil (plural pugils)

1. (obsolete) As much as is taken up between the thumb and two first fingers; a pinch.
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “I. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     Take violets , and infuse a good pugil of them in a quart of vinegar

   • 1778, William Lewis, The new dispensatory:

     Cinnamon, an ounce and a half; Rosemary flowers, six pugils […]

   • 1699, John Evelyn, Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets:

     Note, That by Parts is to be understood a Pugil; which is no more than one does usually take up between the Thumb and the two next Fingers.

   • 1989, Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen-Gun Salute:

     This kind of success was all luck, and if a man had only a given amount for his own share, it was a shame to fritter away so much as a pugil.

See also

• pugil stick

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “pugil”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Latin

Etymology

From pungō (“I sting, pierce”) +‎ -ilis. Lacks the present tense n-infix like figulus. Final -is was dropped in the nominative singular as in vigil.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpu.ɡil/, [ˈpʊɡɪɫ̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpu.d͡ʒil/, [ˈpuːd͡ʒil]

Noun

pugil m (genitive pugilis); third declension

1. a boxer, pugilist
2. (figuratively) a hardened forehead

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	pugil	pugilēs
genitive	pugilis	pugilum
dative	pugilī	pugilibus
accusative	pugilem	pugilēs
ablative	pugile pugilī	pugilibus
vocative	pugil	pugilēs

Derived terms

• pugilicē

Related terms

• pugilārēs, pugillārēs
• pugilātiō, pugillātiō
• pugilātor, pugillātor
• pugilātōrius, pugillātōrius
• pugilātus, pugillātus
• pugilis
• pugillar
• pugillāria
• pugillāriārius
• pugillaris
• pugillātōrius
• pugillus
• pugilor, pugillor

Descendants

• Catalan: púgil
• English: pugilism, pugilist
• Italian: pugile
• Portuguese: púgil
• Spanish: púgil

References

• “pugil”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pugil”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pugil in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• pugil in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “pugil”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers