War

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (usu participle), Adverb

CIDE DICTIONARY

War, a. 

 Ware; aware.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

War, n. [OE. & AS. werre; akin to OHG. werra scandal, quarrel, sedition, werran to confound, mix, D. warren, G. wirren, verwirren, to embroil, confound, disturb, and perhaps to E. worse; cf. OF. werre war, F. querre, of Teutonic origin. Cf. Guerrilla, Warrior.].

•  A contest between nations or states, carried on by force, whether for defence, for revenging insults and redressing wrongs, for the extension of commerce, for the acquisition of territory, for obtaining and establishing the superiority and dominion of one over the other, or for any other purpose; armed conflict of sovereign powers; declared and open hostilities.  [1913 Webster]

  " As war is the contest of nations or states, it always implies that such contest is authorized by the monarch or the sovereign power of the nation. A war begun by attacking another nation, is called an offensive war, and such attack is aggressive. War undertaken to repel invasion, or the attacks of an enemy, is called defensive."  [1913 Webster]

  "Men will ever distinguish war from mere bloodshed."  [1913 Webster]
•  A condition of belligerency to be maintained by physical force. In this sense, levying war against the sovereign authority is treason.  [1913 Webster]
•  Instruments of war.  [1913 Webster]

  "His complement of stores, and total war."  [1913 Webster]
•  Forces; army.  [1913 Webster]

  "On their embattled ranks the waves return,
  And overwhelm their war."  [1913 Webster]
•  The profession of arms; the art of war.  [1913 Webster]

  "Thou art but a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth."  [1913 Webster]
•  a state of opposition or contest; an act of opposition; an inimical contest, act, or action; enmity; hostility.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

  "The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart."  [1913 Webster]

Civil war, a war between different sections or parties of the same country or nation. -- Holy war. See under Holy. -- Man of war. (Naut.) See in the Vocabulary. -- Public war, a war between independent sovereign states. -- War cry, a cry or signal used in war; as, the Indian war cry. -- War dance, a dance among savages preliminary to going to war. Among the North American Indians, it is begun by some distinguished chief, and whoever joins in it thereby enlists as one of the party engaged in a warlike excursion. Schoolcraft. -- War field, a field of war or battle. -- War horse, a horse used in war; the horse of a cavalry soldier; especially, a strong, powerful, spirited horse for military service; a charger. -- War paint, paint put on the face and other parts of the body by savages, as a token of going to war. “Wash the war paint from your faces.” Longfellow. -- War song, a song of or pertaining to war; especially, among the American Indians, a song at the war dance, full of incitements to military ardor. -- War whoop, a war cry, especially that uttered by the American Indians.

War, v. i. 

•  To make war; to invade or attack a state or nation with force of arms; to carry on hostilities; to be in a state by violence.  [1913 Webster]

  "Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it."  [1913 Webster]

  "Why should I war without the walls of Troy?"  [1913 Webster]

  "Our countrymen were warring on that day!"  [1913 Webster]
•  To contend; to strive violently; to fight.  1 Pet. ii. 11.  [1913 Webster]

War, v. t. 

•  To make war upon; to fight.  [1913 Webster]

  "To war the Scot, and borders to defend."  [1913 Webster]
•  To carry on, as a contest; to wage.  [1913 Webster]

  "That thou . . . mightest war a good warfare."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

War, n. & v.
--n.
1 a armed hostilities between esp. nations; conflict (war broke out; war zone). b a specific conflict or the period of time during which such conflict exists (was before the war). c the suspension of international law etc. during such a conflict.
2 (as the War) a war in progress or recently ended; the most recent major war.
3 a hostility or contention between people, groups, etc. (war of words). b (often foll. by on) a sustained campaign against crime, disease, poverty, etc.
--v.intr. (warred, warring)
1 (as warring adj.) a rival; fighting (warring factions). b conflicting (warring principles).
2 make war.

Idiom

art of war strategy and tactics. at war (often foll. by with) engaged in a war. go to war declare or begin a war. go to the wars archaic serve as a soldier. have been in the wars colloq. appear injured, bruised, unkempt, etc. war baby a child, esp. illegitimate, born in wartime. war bride a woman who marries a serviceman met during a war. war chest funds for a war or any other campaign. war-cloud a threatening international situation. war correspondent a correspondent reporting from a scene of war. war crime a crime violating the international laws of war. war criminal a person committing or sentenced for such crimes. war cry
1 a phrase or name shouted to rally one's troops.
2 a party slogan etc. war damage damage to property etc. caused by bombing, shelling, etc. war dance a dance performed by primitive peoples etc. before a battle or to celebrate victory. war department the State office in charge of the army etc.
war-game
1 a military exercise testing or improving tactical knowledge etc.
2 a battle etc. conducted with toy soldiers. war-gaming the playing of war-games. war grave the grave of a serviceman who died on active service, esp. one in a special cemetery etc. war loan stock issued by the British Government to raise funds in wartime. war memorial a monument etc. commemorating those killed in a war. war of attrition a war in which each side seeks to wear out the other over a long period. war of the elements poet. storms or natural catastrophes. War Office hist. the British State department in charge of the army. war of nerves an attempt to wear down an opponent by psychological means. war-plane a military aircraft. war poet a poet writing on war themes, esp. of the two world wars. Wars of the Roses hist. the 15th-c. civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, represented by white and red roses. war-weary (esp. of a population) exhausted and dispirited by war. war widow a woman whose husband has been killed in war. war-worn = war-weary. war zone an area in which a war takes place.

Etymology

ME werre f. AF, ONF var. of OF guerre: cf. WORSE

DEVIL DICTIONARY

War

n. A by-product of the arts of peace. The most menacing political condition is a period of international amity. The student of history who has not been taught to expect the unexpected may justly boast himself inaccessible to the light. "In time of peace prepare for war" has a deeper meaning than is commonly discerned; it means, not merely that all things earthly have an end -- that change is the one immutable and eternal law -- but that the soil of peace is thickly sown with the seeds of war and singularly suited to their germination and growth. It was when Kubla Khan had decreed his "stately pleasure dome" -- when, that is to say, there were peace and fat feasting in Xanadu -- that he

heard from afar
Ancestral voices prophesying war.

One of the greatest of poets, Coleridge was one of the wisest of men, and it was not for nothing that he read us this parable. Let us have a little less of "hands across the sea," and a little more of that elemental distrust that is the security of nations. War loves to come like a thief in the night; professions of eternal amity provide the night.

THESAURUS

War

American Revolution, Ares, Athena, Balkan Wars, Bellona, Boer War, Civil War, Crimean War, Crusades, Enyo, Franco-Prussian War, French Revolution, Gallic Wars, Greco-Persian Wars, Indian Wars, Indochina War, Kilkenny cats, Korean War, Mars, Mexican War, Minerva, Napoleonic Wars, Odin, Peloponnesian Wars, Persian Wars, Punic Wars, Russian Revolution, Russo-Japanese War, Sino-Japanese War, Six Day War, Southeast Asian War, Tiu, Tyr, Vietnam War, Woden, World War I, Wotan, all-out war, altercation, appeal to arms, argument, armed combat, armed conflict, arms, art of war, attack, attempt, battle, belligerence, belligerency, bickering, bloodshed, box, brawl, broil, campaign, carry on hostilities, cat-and-dog life, challenge, chivalry, clash, close, collide, combat, come to blows, conflict, contend, contention, contentiousness, contest, contestation, controversy, crusade, cut and thrust, debate, disputation, dispute, drive, duel, endeavor, engage, engage in hostilities, enmity, essay, exchange blows, expedition, fence, feud, fight, fight a duel, fighting, generalship, give and take, give satisfaction, grapple, grapple with, holy war, hostilities, hostility, hot war, jihad, jostle, joust, knighthood, la guerre, litigation, logomachy, make war, might of arms, military operations, mix it up, open hostilities, open war, oppugn, paper war, polemic, quarrel, quarreling, quarrelsomeness, rassle, resort to arms, riot, run a tilt, scramble, scrapping, scuffle, shed blood, shooting war, skirmish, spar, spill blood, squabbling, state of war, strife, strive, struggle, take on, the sword, thrust and parry, tilt, total war, tourney, tug, tussle, wage war, war of words, warfare, warmaking, warring, wartime, words, wrangling, wrestle

ROGET THESAURUS

War

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.