Bat·ter·yAudio Help (bāt'ə-rē) Pronunciation Key
A park at the southern tip of Manhattan Island at the upper end of New York Bay in southeast New York. It is the site of early Dutch and English fortifications and of Castle Clinton, built in 1808 for the defense of the harbor.
1531, "action of battering," from M.Fr. batterie, from O.Fr. baterie, from batre "beat," from L. bauttere "beat" (see batter (v.)). Meaning shifted in M.Fr. from "bombardment" ("heavy blows" upon city walls or fortresses) to "unit of artillery" (a sense recorded in Eng. from 1555). Extension to "electrical cell" (1748, first used by Ben Franklin) is perhaps via notion of "discharges" of electricity. In obs. baseball jargon battery was the word for "pitcher and catcher" considered as a unit (1867).
group of guns or missile launchers operated together at one place
2.
a device that produces electricity; may have several primary or secondary cells arranged in parallel or series
3.
a collection of related things intended for use together; "took a battery of achievement tests"
4.
a unit composed of the pitcher and catcher
5.
a series of stamps operated in one mortar for crushing ores
6.
the heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area rather than hit a specific target; "they laid down a barrage in front of the advancing troops"; "the shelling went on for hours without pausing" [syn: barrage]
7.
an assault in which the assailant makes physical contact
A device containing an electric cell or a series of electric cells storing energy that can be converted into electrical power (usually in the form of direct current). Common household batteries, such as those used in a flashlight, are usually made of dry cells (the chemicals producing the current are made into a paste). In other batteries, such as car batteries, these chemicals are in liquid form.
Our Living Language: A battery stores chemical energy, which it converts to electrical energy. A typical battery, such as a car battery, is composed of an arrangement of galvanic cells. Each cell contains two metal electrodes, separate from each other, immersed within an electrolyte containing both positive and negative ions. A chemical reaction between the electrodes and the electrolyte, similar to that found in electroplating, takes place, and the metals dissolve in the electrolyte, leaving electrons behind on the electrodes. However, the metals dissolve at different rates, so a greater number of electrons accumulate at one electrode (creating the negative electrode) than at the other electrode (which becomes the positive electrode). This gives rise to an electric potential between the electrodes, which are typically linked together in series and parallel to one another in order to provide the desired voltage at the battery terminals (12 volts, for example, for a car battery). The buildup of charge on the electrodes prevents the metals from dissolving further, but if the battery is hooked up to an electric circuit through which current may flow, electrons are drawn out of the negative electrodes and into the positive ones, reducing their charge and allowing further chemical reactions.
Bat"ter*y\, n.; pl. Batteries. [F. batterie, fr. battre. See Batter, v. t.]1. The act of battering or beating. 2. (Law) The unlawful beating of another. It includes every willful, angry and violent, or negligent touching of another's person or clothes, or anything attached to his person or held by him. 3. (Mil.) (a) Any place where cannon or mortars are mounted, for attack or defense. (b) Two or more pieces of artillery in the field. (c) A company or division of artillery, including the gunners, guns, horses, and all equipments. In the United States, a battery of flying artillery consists usually of six guns. Barbette battery. See Barbette. Battery d'enfilade, or Enfilading battery, one that sweeps the whole length of a line of troops or part of a work. Battery en ['e]charpe, one that plays obliquely. Battery gun, a gun capable of firing a number, of shots simultaneously or successively without stopping to load. Battery wagon, a wagon employed to transport the tools and materials for repair of the carriages, etc., of the battery. In battery, projecting, as a gun, into an embrasure or over a parapet in readiness for firing. Masked battery, a battery artificially concealed until required to open upon the enemy. Out of battery, or From battery, withdrawn, as a gun, to a position for loading. 4. (Elec.) (a) A number of coated jars (Leyden jars) so connected that they may be charged and discharged simultaneously. (b) An apparatus for generating voltaic electricity. Note: In the trough battery, copper and zinc plates, connected in pairs, divide the trough into cells, which are filled with an acid or oxidizing liquid; the effect is exhibited when wires connected with the two end-plates are brought together. In Daniell's battery, the metals are zinc and copper, the former in dilute sulphuric acid, or a solution of sulphate of zinc, the latter in a saturated solution of sulphate of copper. A modification of this is the common gravity battery, so called from the automatic action of the two fluids, which are separated by their specific gravities. In Grove's battery, platinum is the metal used with zinc; two fluids are used, one of them in a porous cell surrounded by the other. In Bunsen's or the carbon battery, the carbon of gas coke is substituted for the platinum of Grove's. In Leclanch['e]'s battery, the elements are zinc in a solution of ammonium chloride, and gas carbon surrounded with manganese dioxide in a porous cell. A secondary battery is a battery which usually has the two plates of the same kind, generally of lead, in dilute sulphuric acid, and which, when traversed by an electric current, becomes charged, and is then capable of giving a current of itself for a time, owing to chemical changes produced by the charging current. A storage battery is a kind of secondary battery used for accumulating and storing the energy of electrical charges or currents, usually by means of chemical work done by them; an accumulator. 5. A number of similar machines or devices in position; an apparatus consisting of a set of similar parts; as, a battery of boilers, of retorts, condensers, etc. 6. (Metallurgy) A series of stamps operated by one motive power, for crushing ores containing the precious metals. --Knight. 7. The box in which the stamps for crushing ore play up and down. 8. (Baseball) The pitcher and catcher together.
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Audio Help [bat-uh-ree] Pronunciation Key 
