three-fisted

English

WOTD – 21 November 2015

Etymology

From three +‎ fisted.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

three-fisted (not comparable)

1. Having three components or parts.
   • 1966 November 25, “Max Factor's Royal Regiment Gift List for Men [advertisement]”, in LIFE, volume 61, number 22, page 2:

     Regimental Gift Set. The Deluxe Combination, a three-fisted gift in a handsome leather-like case with regimental colors and distinctive regimental medallion. After Shave Lotion, Deluxe Shower Soap, Cologne for Men. $9.50

2. Aggressive, energetic, enthusiastic, exuberant; two-fisted.
   • 1961 (republished 2010), Joseph Heller, Catch-22, London: Vintage Books, ISBN 978-0-09-955218-5, page 22:

     [']I'm a real, slam-bang, honest-to-goodness, three-fisted humdinger. I'm a bona fide supraman.' 'Superman?' Clevinger cried. 'Superman?' 'Supraman,' Yossarian corrected.

   • 1968 November 4, “TV and FM Week”, in Ruth Gilbert, editor, New York, volume 1, number 31, →ISSN, page 65:

     Circus World, John Wayne, Claudia Cardinale, Rita Hayworth. The Duke is a three-fisted boss of a two-ring travelling Wild West show. '64.

   • 1993, Jay Conrad Levinson, Guerrilla Marketing Excellence: The 50 Golden Rules for Small-business Success, Houghton Mifflin Co., →ISBN, page 102:

     Advertising promotes your product and the names of your outlets. And while this is going on, you've got to remind folks of the benefits offered in your ads by means of powerful in-store signs. This golden rule packs a three-fisted punch that commands success for you and your retailers.

   • 2003, Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 329:

     He has devised another one of his famous fourth-down game breakers — the same kind of three-fisted brainstorm that climaxed with his decision to defuse the whole impeachment process by releasing his own version of "the tapes," or the time he figured out how to put a quick lid on the Watergate burglary investigation by blaming the whole thing on John Dean.

   • 2014, Gwen Gardner, “Gertrude's Garden”, in Second Death [Indigo Eady: Afterlife Novella Series; book 1], Los Gatos, Calif.: G. Gardner (through Smashwords):

     Badger clenched my hand in his and pulled me forward, hissing under his breath, “Don't stare. Not sure I could take on a three-fisted ... whatever it is.”

3. In three-fisted drinker: able to consume large quantities of liquor without ill effects; heavy (drinker); compare two-fisted drinker.
   • 1999, Dafydd ab Hugh, chapter 3, in Fallen Heroes [Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; 5], New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books:

     A Bajoran rushed past with an armful of phaser rifles, another with a box of hand phasers. God help me, thought O'Brien. I'm a lover, not a fighter! Husband, father, engineer, amateur magician, raconteur, and three-fisted drinker ... never a warrior!

   • 2014 October 31, Steven Erlanger, “A writer whose pen never rests, even facing death [print version: His pen never rests, even in face of death, International New York Times, 3 November 2014, p. 1]”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Once a three-fisted drinker and smoker, Mr. [Clive] James, 75, was found to have leukemia in 2010, with the added complications on emphysema and kidney failure.

Related terms

• two-fisted