Definition of "dogfight" [dogfight]

• A violent fight between or as if between dogs. (noun)
• An illegal, organized fight between dogs, arranged for spectator entertainment and betting. (noun)
• An aerial battle between fighter planes. (noun)
• To arrange illegal dogfights. (verb-intransitive)
• To engage in a dogfight. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Once the Soviets were gone, these groups started a full-blown civil war, mainly for power and money—the kind of battle that is called a dogfight by our people."
• ""Two struggling teams; we should have been in a dogfight from the first bucket.""
• "Btw., Why is that combat between airplanes is called a dogfight?"