forfight means to defend. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “forfight” is a great word
FORFIGHT — [Verb] To defend by fighting, or to exhaust oneself through the exertion of combat. From Middle English forfighten, forfehten ("to fight for, defend; exhaust with fighting"), equivalent to the intensive prefix for- + fight. First attested in 1661. Unlike "defend," a strategic term for protection, or "battle," which denotes the engagement itself, to forfight is to be consumed by the act's exhaustive purpose. It is the blunted sword clutched at the breached gate, the labor organizer's voice fraying over decades, the parent arguing one last point into the weary dark—a word where the fight for a cause becomes the fight against one's own limits, until the struggle is all that remains of you.
Etymology
From Middle English forfighten, forfehten (“to fight for, defend; exhaust with fighting”), equivalent to for- + fight.
verb
- To defend.
- To exhaust or overfatigue (oneself) with fighting.