Battle Definition
battle
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary Jump to: navigation, search See also Battle
Contents |
English
Most common English words: Paris « expression « Duke « #735: battle » bound » York » impossibleAlternative forms
- batail (14th - 16th centuries)
Etymology
Middle English batel, from Old French bataille, from Proto-Romance *battālia, from Late Latin battuālia (“fighting and fencing exercises”), from Latin battuō (“to strike, beat”), from Gaulish (compare Welsh bathu (“to strike money, coin, mint”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bhau(t)- ‘to knock’ (compare Latin fatuus (“silly, knocked silly”), Gothic (bauþs, “deaf, numb, dumbstruck”))
Pronunciation
Noun
battle (plural battles)
- A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; an engagement; a combat.
- A struggle; a contest; as, the battle of life.
- The whole intellectual battle that had at its center the best poem of the best poet of that day. - Henry Morley.
- (obsolete) A division of an army; a battalion.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book II:
- Thenne kyng Arthur made redy his hoost in x batails [...].
- The king divided his army into three battles. - Francis Bacon.
- The cavalry, by way of distinction, was called the battle, and on it alone depended the fate of every action. - William Robertson.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book II:
- (obsolete) The main body, as distinct from the van and rear; battalia.
Usage notes
- Battle can be used as the first part of a self-explaining compound; as, battle brand, a ``brand or sword used in battle; battle cry; battlefield; battle ground; battlearray; battle song.
- Battle, combat, fight, engagement: These words agree in denoting a close encounter between contending parties. Fight is a word of less dignity than the others. Except in poetry, it is more naturally applied to the encounter of a few individuals, and more commonly an accidental one; as, a street fight. A combat is a close encounter, whether between few or many, and is usually premeditated. A battle is commonly more general and prolonged. An engagement supposes large numbers on each side, engaged or intermingled in the conflict. (material dates from 1913)
Synonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from “battle”
|
|
|
Verb
to battle (third-person singular simple present battles, present participle battling, simple past and past participle battled)
- (intransitive): To join in battle; to contend in fight; as, to battle over theories.
- (transitive): To assail in battle; to fight.
Translations
(intransitive) to join in battle; to contend in fight
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
References
- battle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Anagrams
|
)
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:24:10 -0800
By Mark Kennedy and Jason Fekete ottawa canada's MPs have returned to Parliament and are poised for a raucous battle over Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plan to reform old-age pensions in a forthcoming budget that promises to dramatically slash ...