duel

noun

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

   “I have often thought since, how different my fate might have been, had I not fallen in love with Nora at that early age; and had I not flung the wine in Quin’s face, and so brought on the duel.”

   “Of course, not all the Railway Members were men of such talent. One member was "chiefly eminent as a whist player," and another was known for his duel with a fellow M.P. fought at Wormwood Scrubs in 1840.”

   “It has been 200 years, minus a few days, since Vice President Aaron Burr fatally shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel here. Weehawken and the duel have been tied together in an often-uncomfortable knot ever since.”

   “After Rep. William Graves of Kentucky killed Rep. John Cilley of Maine in a duel in 1838, Congress imposed a prohibition on pistol duels in the District of Columbia.”

2. Historically, the wager of battle (judicial combat).
3. (broadly)Any battle or struggle between two contending persons, forces, groups, or ideas.

   “a sniper duel”

   “But it leaves them with a few destroyers, the American destroyer force is falling back, and then you have the two cruiser lines with their respective battleships coming in for the big duel.”

   “Apple comes out swinging in the duel of the data titans [title]”

verb

1. To engage in a battle.

   “The two dogs were duelling for the bone.”

   “The country’s fencing federation has officially recognised lightsaber duelling as a competitive sport, granting the weapon from George Lucas’s space saga the same status as the foil, epee and sabre, the traditional blades used at the Olympics.”