Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a riotous, noisy party.

1924		P. Marks Plastic Age 274: The Prom was a brawl [...] a drunken brawl.
1938		A.J. Liebling ‘The Jollity Building’ in Just Enough Liebling (2004) 250: The shooflies are working in our territory [...] and we can’t let a big brawl like this run.
1947		Devil Thumbs a Ride [film script] Get a load of them dead soldiers. Must have been some brawl last weekend.
1953		S. Frazee ‘Graveyard Shift’ in Best of Manhunt (2019) [ebook] Where in [...] Midway was any heavy money? There was a brawl at the Riverview country club tonight, maybe a few thousand loose in pockets and a handful of jewelry, but—.
1964		S. Woodward Paper Tiger 281: After my retirement on April 1, 1962, the boys at the Tribune threw a brawl for me in Toots Shor’s and a lot of old friends came.