battle definition | Dictionary.com

bat⋅tle

1 [bat-l]

noun, verb, -tled, -tling.

–noun

1.	a hostile encounter or engagement between opposing military forces: the battle of Waterloo.

2.	participation in such hostile encounters or engagements: wounds received in battle.

3.	a fight between two persons or animals: ordering a trial by battle to settle the dispute.

4.	any conflict or struggle: a battle for control of the Senate.

5.	Archaic. a battalion.

–verb (used without object)

6.	to engage in battle: ready to battle with the enemy.

7.	to work very hard or struggle; strive: to battle for freedom.

–verb (used with object)

8.	to fight (a person, army, cause, etc.): We battled strong winds and heavy rains in our small boat.

9.	to force or accomplish by fighting, struggling, etc.: He battled his way to the top of his profession.

—Idiom

10.	give or do battle, to enter into conflict; fight: He was ready to do battle for his beliefs.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME bataile < OF < VL *battālia for LL battuālia (neut. pl.) gladiatorial exercises, equiv. to battu(ere) to strike (see bate ² ) + -ālia, neut. pl. of -ālis -al ²

Related forms:

battler, noun

Synonyms:
1. contest, conflict, war. Battle, action, skirmish mean a conflict between organized armed forces. A battle is a prolonged and general conflict pursued to a definite decision: the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. A skirmish is a slight engagement, often on the periphery of an area of battle: several minor skirmishes. An action can be a battle or a skirmish or can refer to actual fighting or combat: a major military action; action along the border; He saw action in the campaign. 2. warfare, combat, fighting. 10. conflict. 7. contest.

bat⋅tle

2 [bat-l]

–verb (used with object), -tled, -tling. Archaic.

to furnish (a building or wall) with battlements; crenelate.

Origin:
1300–50; ME batailen < MF bataillier to provide with batailles. See battlement

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To battle

bat·tle (bāt'l)

1. An encounter between opposing forces: an important battle in the Pacific campaign.
2. Armed fighting; combat: wounded in battle.
3. A protracted controversy or struggle: won the battle of the budget.
4. An intense competition: a battle of wits.
A match between two combatants: trial by battle.
1. A protracted controversy or struggle: won the battle of the budget.
2. An intense competition: a battle of wits.

v.   bat·tled, bat·tling, bat·tles

v.   intr.
To engage in or as if in battle.
v.   tr.
To fight against: battled the enemy; battled cancer.

[Middle English batel, from Old French bataille, from Vulgar Latin *battālia, from Late Latin battuālia, fighting and fencing exercises, from Latin battuere, to beat.]
bat'tler n.

Bat·tle (bāt'l)

A town of southeast England northwest of Hastings, near the site of the Battle of Hastings (1066). William the Conqueror built Battle Abbey to commemorate his victory here. Population: 4,987.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Battle

Bat"tle\, a. Fertile. See Battel, a. [Obs.]

Battle

Bat"tle\, 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. ]

1. A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; an engagement; a combat.

2. 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. --H. Morley.

3. A division of an army; a battalion. [Obs.]

The king divided his army into three battles. --Bacon.

The cavalry, by way of distinction, was called the battle, and on it alone depended the fate of every action. --Robertson.

4. The main body, as distinct from the van and rear; battalia. [Obs.] --Hayward.

Note: 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; battlearray; battle song.

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 m[^e]l['e]e. --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.

Usage: 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.

Battle

Bat"tle\ (b[a^]t"t'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Battled (-tl'd); p. pr. & vb. n. Battling.] [F. batailler, fr. bataille. See Battle, n.] To join in battle; to contend in fight; as, to battle over theories.

To meet in arms, and battle in the plain. --Prior.

Battle

Bat"tle\, v. t. To assail in battle; to fight.

Language Translation for : battle

Spanish: batalla,

German: die Schlacht,

Japanese: 戦い

More Translations »

battle

1297, from O.Fr. bataille, from L.L. battualia "exercise of soldiers and gladiators in fighting and fencing," from L. battuere "beat" (see batter (v.)). Phrase battle royal "fight involving several combatants" is from 1672.

battle

see half the battle; losing battle; pitched battle.

Battle

town (parish), Rother district, administrative county of East Sussex, historic county of Sussex, England, just inland from Hastings. A ridge to the southeast, called Senlac, was the site of the famous battle in which William I the Conqueror defeated the English in 1066. Before the battle William vowed to build an abbey on the spot if victorious, and in 1094 its church was consecrated, with an altar standing where the English king Harold II fell. The great gateway, built in 1338, survives alongside the town, but after the Reformation the church was destroyed and the abbey converted into a mansion that is now occupied by a school. Pop. (2001) 6,048.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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