battle
noun
- part of a war which is well defined in duration, area and force commitment
- fight, adversarial engagement
verb
- engage in an episode of warfare
- fight against (eg. disease)
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈbætl̩/ / [ˈbatʰɫ̩] / [ˈbæɾɫ̩] / /ˈbætəɫ/
adj
Etymology: From Early Modern English batell, probably from Middle English *batel (“flourishing”), from Old English *batol (“improving, tending to be good”), from batian (“to get better, improve”) + -ol ( + -le).
- Of grass or pasture: nutritious to cattle or sheep; fattening, nourishing.
“battle grass battle pasture”
- Of land (originally pastureland) or soil: fertile, fruitful.
“battle land battle soil”
name
Etymology: Capitalization of battle. Doublet of Battaglia.
- A habitational surname from Middle English from places in England that have been sites of a battle.
- A place name:
- A place name:
- A place name:
- A place name:
noun
Etymology: From Middle English batel, batell, batelle, batayle, bataylle, borrowed from Old French bataille, from Late Latin battālia, variant of battuālia (“fighting and fencing exercises”) from Latin battuō (“to strike, hit, beat, fight”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from a Gaulish or Proto-Germanic root from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to stab, dig”), related to Old English beado (“battle”); or possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to hit, strike, beat”). Doublet of battalia and battel. Displaced native Old English ġefeoht, beado, camp, and wīg (“battle”), among others.
- A contest, a struggle.
“the battle of life”
“I returned, and saw vnder the Sunne, That the race is not to the swift, nor the battell to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of vnderstanding, nor yet fauour to men of skil; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”
- A contest, a struggle.
- A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; a combat, an engagement.
- A division of an army; a battalion.
“Thenne kyng Arthur made redy his hooſt in x batails and Nero was redy in the felde afore the caſtel Tarabil with a grete hooſt / & he had x batails with many mo peple than Arthur had […]”
“They ſay, that the King diuided his Armie into three Battailes; whereof the Vant-guard onely well ſtrengthened with wings, came to fight.”
- The main body of an army, as distinct from the vanguard and rear; the battalia.
“Iohn Duke of Norfolke, Thomas Earle of Surrey, Shall haue the leading of the Foot and Horſe. They thus directed, we will fllow ^([sic]) In the maine Battell, whose puiſſance on either ſide Shall be well-winged with our cheefeſt Horſe: This, and Saint George to boote.”
“hovering aloofe in the fields he suffered Wyat his Van and main Battell (cutting off some of the Reare) to march undisturbed save with one shot, from Knights-Bridge to Charing Chrosse.”
- Clipping of battle buddy.
verb
Etymology: From Early Modern English batell, probably from Middle English *batel (“flourishing”), from Old English *batol (“improving, tending to be good”), from batian (“to get better, improve”) + -ol ( + -le).
- To feed or nourish (someone or something).
- To render (land, soil, etc.) fertile or fruitful.
“To Devonſhire or Denſhire land. That is, to pare off the ſurface or top turf thereof, and to lay it upon heaps and burn it; vvhich aſhes are a marvelous improvement to battle barren land, by reaſon of the fixt ſalt vvhich they contain.”