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war - 11 dictionary results
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war

1  [wawr] noun, verb, warred, war⋅ring, adjective
Use war in a Sentence
–noun
1. a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air.
2. a state or period of armed hostility or active military operations: The two nations were at war with each other.
3. a contest carried on by force of arms, as in a series of battles or campaigns: the War of 1812.
4. active hostility or contention; conflict; contest: a war of words.
5. aggressive business conflict, as through severe price cutting in the same industry or any other means of undermining competitors: a fare war among airlines; a trade war between nations.
6. a struggle: a war for men's minds; a war against poverty.
7. armed fighting, as a science, profession, activity, or art; methods or principles of waging armed conflict: War is the soldier's business.
8. Cards.
a. a game for two or more persons, played with a 52-card pack evenly divided between the players, in which each player turns up one card at a time with the higher card taking the lower, and in which, when both turned up cards match, each player lays one card face down and turns up another, the player with the higher card of the second turn taking all the cards laid down.
b. an occasion in this game when both turned up cards match.
9. Archaic. a battle.
–verb (used without object)
10. to make or carry on war; fight: to war with a neighboring nation.
11. to carry on active hostility or contention: Throughout her life she warred with sin and corruption.
12. to be in conflict or in a state of strong opposition: The temptation warred with his conscience.
–adjective
13. of, belonging to, used in, or due to war: war preparations; war hysteria.
Origin:
bef. 1150; (n.) ME, late OE werre < ONF < Gmc; c. OHG werra strife; (v.) ME, late OE werrien (transit.) to make war upon, deriv. of the n.; cf. OF guerrer, ONF werreier; akin to war 2

war

2  [wahr]
–adjective, adverb Scot. and North England.
worse.
Origin:
1150–1200; ME werre < ON verri worse

war.

 
warrant.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To war
war   (wôr)   
n.  
    1. A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties.
    2. The period of such conflict.
    3. The techniques and procedures of war; military science.
    4. A condition of active antagonism or contention: a war of words; a price war.
    5. A concerted effort or campaign to combat or put an end to something considered injurious: the war against acid rain.
    1. A condition of active antagonism or contention: a war of words; a price war.
    2. A concerted effort or campaign to combat or put an end to something considered injurious: the war against acid rain.
intr.v.   warred, war·ring, wars
  1. To wage or carry on warfare.
  2. To be in a state of hostility or rivalry; contend.

[Middle English warre, from Old North French werre, of Germanic origin; see wers- in Indo-European roots.]
Word History: The chaos of war is reflected in the semantic history of the word war. War can be traced back to the Indo-European root *wers-, "to confuse, mix up." In the Germanic family of the Indo-European languages, this root gave rise to several words having to do with confusion or mixture of various kinds. One was the noun *werza-, "confusion," which in a later form *werra- was borrowed into Old French, probably from Frankish, a largely unrecorded Germanic language that contributed about 200 words to the vocabulary of Old French. From the Germanic stem came both the form werre in Old North French, the form borrowed into English in the 12th century, and guerre (the source of guerrilla) in the rest of the Old French-speaking area. Both forms meant "war." Meanwhile another form derived from the same Indo-European root had developed into a word denoting a more benign kind of mixture, Old High German wurst, meaning "sausage." Modern German Wurst was borrowed into English in the 19th century, first by itself (recorded in 1855) and then as part of the word liverwurst (1869), the liver being a translation of German Leber in Leberwurst.
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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War

War\, a. Ware; aware. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

War

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.]

1. 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.

Men will ever distinguish war from mere bloodshed. --F. W. Robertson.

Note: 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.

2. (Law) A condition of belligerency to be maintained by physical force. In this sense, levying war against the sovereign authority is treason.

3. Instruments of war. [Poetic]

His complement of stores, and total war. --Prior.

4. Forces; army. [Poetic]

On their embattled ranks the waves return, And overwhelm their war. --Milton.

5. The profession of arms; the art of war.

Thou art but a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth. --1 Sam. xvii. 33.

6. a state of opposition or contest; an act of opposition; an inimical contest, act, or action; enmity; hostility. "Raised impious war in heaven." --Milton.

The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. --Ps. lv. 21.

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

War\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Warred; p. pr. & vb. n. Warring.]

1. 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.

Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it. --Isa. vii. 1.

Why should I war without the walls of Troy? --Shak.

Our countrymen were warring on that day! --Byron.

2. To contend; to strive violently; to fight. "Lusts which war against the soul." --1 Pet. ii. 11.

War

War\, v. t. 1. To make war upon; to fight. [R.]

To war the Scot, and borders to defend. --Daniel.

2. To carry on, as a contest; to wage. [R.]

That thou . . . mightest war a good warfare. --Tim. i. 18.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : war
Spanish: guerra,
German: der Krieg, Kriegs-…,
Japanese: 戦争
More Translations »

war 
late O.E. (c.1050), wyrre, werre, from O.N.Fr. werre "war" (Fr. guerre), from Frank. *werra, from P.Gmc. *werso (cf. O.S. werran, O.H.G. werran, Ger. verwirren "to confuse, perplex"). Cognates suggest the original sense was "to bring into confusion." There was no common Gmc. word for "war" at the dawn of historical times. O.E. had many poetic words for "war" (guð, heaðo, hild, wig, all common in personal names), but the usual one to translate L. bellum was gewin "struggle, strife" (related to win). Sp., Port., It. guerra are from the same source; Romanic peoples turned to Gmc. for a word to avoid L. bellum because its form tended to merge with bello- "beautiful." The verb meaning "to make war on" is recorded from 1154. First record of war time is 1387. Warpath (1775) is from N.Amer. Ind., as are war-whoop (1761), war-paint (1826), war-path (1775), and war-dance (1757). War crime first attested 1906. War chest is attested from 1901; now usually fig. War games translates Ger. Kriegspiel (see kriegspiel).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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War

The Israelites had to take possession of the Promised Land by conquest. They had to engage in a long and bloody war before the Canaanitish tribes were finally subdued. Except in the case of Jericho and Ai, the war did not become aggressive till after the death of Joshua. Till then the attack was always first made by the Canaanites. Now the measure of the iniquity of the Canaanites was full, and Israel was employed by God to sweep them away from off the face of the earth. In entering on this new stage of the war, the tribe of Judah, according to divine direction, took the lead. In the days of Saul and David the people of Israel engaged in many wars with the nations around, and after the division of the kingdom into two they often warred with each other. They had to defend themselves also against the inroads of the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. The whole history of Israel from first to last presents but few periods of peace. The Christian life is represented as a warfare, and the Christian graces are also represented under the figure of pieces of armour (Eph. 6:11-17; 1 Thess. 5:8; 2 Tim. 2:3, 4). The final blessedness of believers is attained as the fruit of victory (Rev. 3:21).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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war

In addition to the idioms beginning with war, also see all's fair in love and war; at war; been to the wars; declare war; tug of war.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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