Green’s Dictionary of Slang

the hand, usu. when clenched in a fist; thus a punch.

[1647		J. Cleveland Poem in Character of a London-Diurnall 27: As farre as nature fingers did contrive, [...] She cleft their hoof into so many clawes, May tire their Carret-bunch, yet ne’re agree].
1820		Jack Randall’s Diary 54: When your bunch of five tickled his muru.
1827		‘The Black Fogle’ in Egan Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 34: So long for your Champion his ensign be wearing, / ’Tis defended and held by a good bunch of fives.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 5: As the sporting men would have it, his ‘bunch of fives,’ [...] were protected from the inclemency of the rude elements by ‘white kid gloves’.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 334: Ratty was not deficient in the use of his ‘bunch of fives,’ hit hard for his size, and was very agile.
1842		Flash (N.Y.) 10 July 2/2: Both men made good play, but a box of fives proved harder than an open fist.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 29 Jan. n.p.: [L]eaving palpable and injurious marks of his ‘bunch of fives’ at each blow.
1845		Bell’s Life in Sydney 1 Feb 3/3: Mary [...] transferred her anger on the instant to the ‘trap,’ on whose countenance she planted her ‘bunch of fives’.
1848		Sam Sly 30 Dec. 3/1: [E]very owner of a noticeable bunch of fives exhibits to the frequenter of Spring’s parlour his pictorial mug.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 69: ‘Just twig his bunch of fives, Conkey’ (this was said to a gentleman with a peculiar bottle-nose).
1863		C. Reade Hard Cash II 246: ‘Now look at that bunch of fives,’ continued the master; and laid a hand [...] on the table.
1866		Night Side of N.Y. 64: But these were only stuffed sleeves. His real arms were at work under the cape, and, with the light ‘bunches of fives’ at the end of them, did very considerable execution upon [...] the unsuspecting passengers.
1866		Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW) 18 Sept. 2/1: [A] pugilist who has sprained his knuckles is said [...] to have ‘smashed his bunch of fives,’ [...] to have ‘spiflicated his flipper,’ or ‘played old Harry with his mawley’.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 30 Nov. 6/1: He threw a bunch of bones on the High-bridge of the short ‘sheeny’.
1871		Constitutionalist (Elyria, OH) 3 May 3/2: Whereupon he let fly his bunch of ivories, and, taking Mr. Printer at a disadvantage, knocked him into ‘pi’.
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 328: Some desperado, who was respected by the thieves and rowdies, and who inspired in their minds a desire to keep a safe distance between his ‘bunch of fives’ and their persons.
1881		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 17 Dec. 7/3: His feet were spread wide apart, and his ‘bunch of fives’ held artistically.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 2: Bunch-of-Fives - The fist, or hand.
1882		Punch LXXXII 133 1: He smote crashingly down... with a lead-weighted truncheon he held in his dexter bunch of fives.
1894		J. Astley Fifty Years (2nd edn) II 21: I could take my own part with my bunch of fives.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 13: Bunch of Fives, the fist or hand.
1897		Atchison Dly Champion (KS) 12 Mar. 2/1: We hear nothing now of how one of the men landed with his ‘bunch of fives’ upon his opponent’s ‘peeper,’ or thumped him upon his ‘brain canister,’ or ‘fibbed him on his portmanteau’.
1900		Truth (Sydney) 25 Nov. 7/4: William he were big & powerful, / He could use his bunch of fives.
1908		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 95: This is the best bunch of fives Cross has. This blow won him all his fights in New York.
1913–14		Van Loan ‘Scrap Iron’ in Taking the Count 208: It was Dickens who called a fist ‘a bunch of fives.’.
1918		S. Bourke & Mornington Jrnl (Richmond, Vic.) 11 July 2/8: I into ’im with a knuckle duster on the bunch of fives.
1926		N. Fleischer in Ring Nov. 10: In the bout between Tom Smallwood and Richard Harris, which lasted an hour and was fought in 1741, we find Harris using his ‘bunch of fives,’ meaning his fists, to good advantage.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.
1944		F.J. Hardy ‘A Stranger in the Camp’ in Man From Clinkapella 23: [He] had demonstrated on occasions that he was ‘handy with the bunch of fives’.
1954		Hepster’s Dict. 9: Set of fives – A fist.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 91: Was gonna give him a buncha five but I flogged off instead.
1968		G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 162: A belt-up in the ruck, a bunch of five, fair enough.
1971		(con. WWII) B. Aldiss Soldier Erect 53: My regret was that I had not given Wally a bunch of fives in the mush.
1973		A. Bennett Habeus Corpus Act II: Shut your cakehole, before I give you a bunch of fives.
1981		S. Berkoff Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 27: Not lay a single finger on his rotten face! / not volunteer a bunch of fives.
1989		M. Walker How to Kiss a Crocodile 17: [T]he other bunch of fives supported my friend’s soft, white ‘handbag’ underbelly.
1999		Guardian G2 5 July 3: Look pal, you’re asking for a bunch of fives.
2003		C. Bronson Silent Scream 1: I gave him a bunch of fives in return and knocked him clean out.