Borrowed from Latin pugillus, pugillum (“a handful”), akin to pugnus (“the fist”).

pugil (plural pugils)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

(See the entry for pugil in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)