Other forms: tussles
A tussle is a rough struggle at close quarters. A tussle for the ball, a legal tussle, get into a tussle.
It is smaller and less serious than a fight, and it suits sport and children. Figuratively a tussle over a contract or a court case is a hard contest without violence. The word is related to tousle, meaning to make untidy, which is what a tussle does.
1nountussleA rough struggle at close quarters.
“The two players had a brief tussle for the ball near the goal.”
tussle is a struggle.
Related to tousle, from a Middle English verb meaning to pull about or handle roughly.
Related to tousle.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire