Battle

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: bat=tle

CIDE DICTIONARY

Battle, a. 

 Fertile. See Battel, a.  [1913 Webster]

Battle, n. [OE. bataille, bataile, F. bataille battle, OF., battle, battalion, fr. L. battalia, battualia, the fighting and fencing exercises of soldiers and gladiators, fr. batuere to strike, beat. Cf. Battalia, 1st Battel, and see Batter, v. t. ].

•  A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; an engagement; a combat.  [1913 Webster]
•  A struggle; a contest; as, the battle of life.  [1913 Webster]

  "The whole intellectual battle that had at its center the best poem of the best poet of that day."  [1913 Webster]
•  A division of an army; a battalion.  [1913 Webster]

  "The king divided his army into three battles."  [1913 Webster]

  "The cavalry, by way of distinction, was called the battle, and on it alone depended the fate of every action."  [1913 Webster]
•  The main body, as distinct from the van and rear; battalia.  Hayward.  [1913 Webster]

  " Battle is used adjectively or as the first part of a self-explaining compound; as, battle brand, a “brand” or sword used in battle; battle cry; battlefield; battle ground; battle array; battle song."  [1913 Webster]

Battle piece, a painting, or a musical composition, representing a battle. -- Battle royal. (a) A fight between several gamecocks, where the one that stands longest is the victor. Grose. (b) A contest with fists or cudgels in which more than two are engaged; a mêlée. Thackeray. -- Drawn battle, one in which neither party gains the victory. -- To give battle, to attack an enemy. -- To join battle, to meet the attack; to engage in battle. -- Pitched battle, one in which the armies are previously drawn up in form, with a regular disposition of the forces. -- Wager of battle. See under Wager, n.

Syn. -- Conflict; encounter; contest; action.

Battle, v. i. [F. batailler, fr. bataille. See Battle, n.].

 To join in battle; to contend in fight; as, to battle over theories.  [1913 Webster]
"To meet in arms, and battle in the plain."  [1913 Webster]

Battle, v. t. 

 To assail in battle; to fight.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Battle, n. & v.
--n.
1 a prolonged fight between large organized armed forces.
2 a contest; a prolonged or difficult struggle (life is a constant battle; a battle of wits).
--v.
1 intr. struggle; fight persistently (battled against the elements; battled for women's rights).
2 tr. fight (one's way etc.).
3 tr. US engage in battle with.

Idiom

battle-cruiser hist. a heavy-gunned ship faster and more lightly armoured than a battleship. battle-cry a cry or slogan of participants in a battle or contest. battle fatigue = combat fatigue. battle royal
1 a battle in which several combatants or all available forces engage; a free fight.
2 a heated argument. half the battle the key to the success of an undertaking.

Derivative

battler n.

Etymology

ME f. OF bataille ult. f. LL battualia gladiatorial exercises f. L battuere beat

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Battle

n. A method of untying with the teeth of a political knot that would not yield to the tongue.

THESAURUS

Battle

Actium, Adrianople, Aegates Isles, Aegospotami, Agincourt, Antietam, Anzio, Arbela-Gaugamela, Ardennes, Austerlitz, Ayacucho, Balaclava, Bannockburn, Bataan-Corregidor, Bismarck Sea, Blenheim, Bosworth Field, Bouvines, Boyne, Brunanburh, Bunker Hill, Cannae, Caporetto, Chancellorsville, Crecy, Dunkirk, El Alamein, Flodden, Fontenoy, Fredericksburg, Gaza, Gettysburg, Granicus River, Guadalcanal, Hampton Roads, Hastings, Hohenlinden, Inchon, Long Island, Marathon, Midway, Poitiers, Sedan, Singapore, Solferino, Waterloo, action, aerial combat, affray, agonize, all-out war, altercation, antagonize, appeal to arms, argument, arm, armed combat, armed conflict, armor, armor-plate, armored combat, assail, assault, attack, bank, barricade, battle royal, beat against, beat up against, belligerence, belligerency, blockade, bloodshed, bombard, box, brawl, breast the wave, broil, brush, buck, buffet, buffet the waves, bullfight, bulwark, campaign, carry on hostilities, castellate, clash, clash of arms, close, close with, cockfight, collide, combat, come to blows, compete with, competition, conflict, contend, contend against, contest, crenellate, crusade, cut and thrust, dig in, dispute, dogfight, duel, embattle, embroilment, encounter, engage in hostilities, engagement, entrench, exchange blows, exchange of blows, fence, feud, fight, fight a duel, fight against, fighting, fire fight, fortify, fracas, fray, garrison, give and take, give satisfaction, grapple, grapple with, ground combat, grunt and sweat, hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight, hassle, hostilities, hot war, house-to-house combat, huff and puff, join battle with, jostle, joust, la guerre, labor against, make war, man, man the garrison, melee, might of arms, military operations, militate against, mine, mix it up, naval combat, offer resistance, onset, onslaught, open hostilities, open war, oppugn, palisade, passage of arms, pitched battle, quarrel, rassle, reluct, reluctate, resort to arms, riot, rival, rumble, run a tilt, running fight, scramble, scrimmage, scuffle, shed blood, shooting war, shoving match, skirmish, sortie, spar, spill blood, stand-up fight, state of war, stem the tide, street fight, strive, strive against, struggle, struggle against, take on, tauromachy, the sword, thrust and parry, tilt, total war, tourney, tug, tug-of-war, tussle, vie with, wage war, wall, war, warfare, warmaking, warring, wartime, wrestle

ROGET THESAURUS

Battle

Contention

N contention, strife, contest, contestation, struggle, belligerency, opposition, controversy, polemics, debate, war of words, logomachy, litigation, paper war, high words, sparring, competition, rivalry, corrivalry, corrivalship, agonism, concours, match, race, horse racing, heat, steeple chase, handicap, regatta, field day, sham fight, Derby day, turf, sporting, bullfight, tauromachy, gymkhana, boat race, torpids, wrestling, greco-roman wrestling, pugilism, boxing, fisticuffs, the manly art of self-defense, spar, mill, set-to, round, bout, event, prize fighting, quarterstaff, single stick, gladiatorship, gymnastics, jiujitsu, jujutsu, kooshti, sumo, athletics, athletic sports, games of skill, shindy, fracas, clash of arms, tussle, scuffle, broil, fray, affray, affrayment, velitation, colluctation, luctation, brabble, brigue, scramble, melee, scrimmage, stramash, bushfighting, free fight, stand up fight, hand to hand, running fight, conflict, skirmish, rencounter, encounter, rencontre, collision, affair, brush, fight, battle, battle royal, combat, action, engagement, joust, tournament, tilt, tilting, tournay, list, pitched battle, death struggle, struggle for life or death, life or death struggle, Armageddon, hard knocks, sharp contest, tug of war, naval engagement, naumachia, sea fight, duel, duello, single combat, monomachy, satisfaction, passage d'armes, passage of arms, affair of honor, triangular duel, hostile meeting, digladiation, deeds of arms, feats of arms, appeal to arms, pugnacity, combativeness, bone of contention, contending, together by the ears, at loggerheads, at war, at issue, competitive, rival, belligerent, contentious, combative, bellicose, unpeaceful, warlike, quarrelsome, pugnacious, pugilistic, gladiatorial, palestric, palestrical, a verbis ad verbera, a word and a blow, a very pretty quarrel as it stands, commune periculum concordiam parit, lis litem generat.

Warfare

N warfare, fighting, hostilities, war, arms, the sword, Mars, Bellona, grim visaged war, horrida bella, bloodshed, appeal to arms, appeal to the sword, ordeal of battle, wager of battle, ultima ratio regum, arbitrament of the sword, battle array, campaign, crusade, expedition, operations, mobilization, state of siege, battlefield, theater of operations, warpath, art of war, tactics, strategy, castrametation, generalship, soldiership, logistics, military evolutions, ballistics, gunnery, chivalry, gunpowder, shot, battle, tug of war, service, campaigning, active service, tented field, kriegspiel, Kriegsspiel, fire cross, trumpet, clarion, bugle, pibroch, slogan, war-cry, war-whoop, battle cry, beat of drum, rappel, tom-tom, calumet of war, word of command, password, watchword, passage d-armes, war to the death, war to the knife, guerre a mort, guerre a outrance, open war, internecine war, civil war, contending, contentious, armed, armed to the teeth, armed cap-a-pie, sword in hand, in arms, under arms, up in arms, at war with, bristling with arms, in battle array, in open arms, in the field, embattled, battled, unpacific, unpeaceful, belligerent, combative, armigerous, bellicose, martial, warlike, military, militant, soldier-like, soldierly, chivalrous, strategical, internecine, flagrante bello, in the thick of the fray, in the cannon's mouth, at the sword's point, at the point of the bayonet, Int, vae victis!, to arms!, to your tents O Israel!, the battle rages, a la guerre comme a la guerre, bis peccare in bello non licet, jus gladii, my voice is still for war, 'tis well that war is so terrible, otherwise we might grow fond of it, my sentence is for open war, pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war, the cannons have their bowels full of wrath, the cannons aspit forth their iron indignation, the fire-eyed maid of smoky war, silent leges inter arma, si vis pacem para bellum.