To avoid. A shy person is unwilling to come forward, and to fight is to resist, to struggle in a contest. To “fight shy,” therefore, is to resist being brought into contest or conflict.
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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