a. Fertile. See Battel, a. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A struggle; a contest; as, the battle of life. [ 1913 Webster ]

The whole intellectual battle that had at its center the best poem of the best poet of that day. H. Morley. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A division of an army; a battalion. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The king divided his army into three battles. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cavalry, by way of distinction, was called the battle, and on it alone depended the fate of every action. Robertson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The main body, as distinct from the van and rear; battalia. [ Obs. ] Hayward. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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; battle array; battle song. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 mêlée. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Conflict; encounter; contest; action. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Battled 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

To meet in arms, and battle in the plain. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To assail in battle; to fight. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. (Mil.) A kind of broadax formerly used as an offensive weapon. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. Embattled. [ Poetic ] Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. batyldour. A corrupted form of uncertain origin; cf. Sp. batallador a great combatant, he who has fought many battles, Pg. batalhador, Pr. batalhador, warrior, soldier, fr. L. battalia; or cf. Pr. batedor batlet, fr. batre to beat, fr. L. batuere. See Battle, n. ] 1. An instrument, with a handle and a flat part covered with parchment or crossed with catgut, used to strike a shuttlecock in play; also, the play of battledoor and shuttlecock. [ Also spelled battledore. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ OE. battleder. ] A child's hornbook. [ Obs. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. same as battledoor.
Syn. -- battledore and shuttlecock. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a region where a battle is fought.
Syn. -- battleground, field of battle, field. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. the line along which opposing armies face each other.
Syn. -- front, front line. [ WordNet 1.5 #here ]

n. a region where a battle is fought; same as battlefield.
Syn. -- battlefield, field of battle, field. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Experienced in combat, and therefore more effective at fighting; -- used mostly of infantry troops; as, battle-hardened veterans.
Syn. -- combat-hardened, combat-tested. [ PJC ]

n. [ OE. batelment; cf. OF. bataillement combat, fr. batailler, also OF. bastillier, bateillier, to fortify. Cf. Battle, n., Bastile, Bastion. ] (Arch.) (a) One of the solid upright parts of a parapet in ancient fortifications. (b) pl. The whole parapet, consisting of alternate solids and open spaces. At first purely a military feature, afterwards copied on a smaller scale with decorative features, as for churches. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having battlements. [ 1913 Webster ]

A battlemented portal. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ See 2d Battel, n. ] A student at Oxford who is supplied with provisions from the buttery; formerly, one who paid for nothing but what he called for, answering nearly to a sizar at Cambridge. Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Mil.) The range within which the fire of small arms is very destructive. With the magazine rifle, this is six hundred yards. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Nav.) [ shortened from line-of-battle ship, i.e. the most heavily armored ship suited to be in the front line of a naval battle. ] An armor-plated warship built of steel and heavily armed, generally having over ten thousand tons displacement, and intended to be fit to combat the heaviest enemy ships in line of battle; the most heavily armed and armored class of warship at any given time. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

v. i. To be arrayed for battle. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Embattled p. pr. & vb. n. Embattling ] [ OF. embataillier; pref. em- (L. in) + F. bataille battle. See Battle, and cf. Battlement. ] To arrange in order of battle; to array for battle; also, to prepare or arm for battle; to equip as for battle. [ 1913 Webster ]

One in bright arms embattled full strong. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ See Battlement. ] To furnish with battlements. “Embattled house.” Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having indentations like a battlement. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Her.) Having the edge broken like battlements; -- said of a bearing such as a fess, bend, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Having been the place of battle; as, an embattled plain or field. J. Baillie. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An intended parapet; a battlement. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The fortifying of a building or a wall by means of battlements. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Embattled. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Over + battle, a. ] Excessively fertile; bearing rank or noxious growths. [ Obs. ] “Overbattle grounds.” Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]