▪ I. martial, a. and n.
(ˈmɑːʃəl)
Forms: 4–6 marcial, 5 marcyal(l, martialle, (5 marcill, 6 mershal), 5–6 marciall, mercial(l, mercyall, 5–7 martiall, 6 martyall, 6–8 marshal(l, (7 marshiall), 6– martial.
[a. F. martial (= Sp., Pg. marcial, It. marziale), ad. L. martiālis of or belonging to Mars, f. Mart(i)- Mars.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of or pertaining to war or battle.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 1641 (1669) Ne veyn delit,..or torney Marcial,..Ne made me to Rewe on youre distresse. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. i. (1494) C iij b, His victorious marcyall hye prowesse Done in almayne. c 1430 ― Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 5 Alle assautis that were martialle For his sake he proudly wold endure. 1529 Lyndesay Complaynt 457 Thow..hes thy honour done awance, In Scotland, Ingland, and in France, Be Merciall dedis honourabyll. 1532–3 Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 13 Iustes, tourneis,..or other marcial feates or disguisings. 1586 Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. i. ii, My martiall prises..Wun on the fiftie headed Vuolgas waues. a 1625 Fletcher & Massinger Laws of Candy i. ii, That yong-man, who was not..skil'd In Martiall play. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 304 See..in what martial equipage They issue forth. 1676 Hobbes Iliad ii. 180 In counsel or in Martial Array. 1760 Johnson Idler No. 96 ¶1 His martial achievements remain engraved on a pillar of flint. 1773–83 Hoole Orl. Fur. xvi. 307 Rinaldo flies, with martial ardor prest. 1791 Cowper Iliad iv. 515 With martial order terrible. 1872 Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 81 So long as there was continual fighting there was a likelihood of improvement in martial virtues. |
b. Of sports, exercises, etc.; Serving as training for warfare. martial art (usu. pl.), any of various fighting sports or skills mainly of Japanese origin, such as judo, karate, and kendo.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy Prol., Y{supt} longeth to manhode..To haunte his bodye in playes marciall. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 670 The king entendyng to see this martiall sport,..caused listes royall for the Champions..to be newly erected in West Smithfield in London. a 1586 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 51 Before Poets did soften vs, we were full of courage, giuen to martiall exercises. 1632 Parker True Tale of Robin Hood 39 in Child Ballads III. 229 And shewd to them such martiall sport, With his long bow and arrow. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. (1869) I. 458 They soon became careless of their martial exercises. 1815 Wordsw. Laodamia 118 While my youthful peers before my eyes..Prepared themselves for glorious enterprise By martial sports. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xii. 227 There he was entertained with martial exercises. 1933 Official Guide to Japan (Japanese Government Railways) p. clxxxvi, Contests [of kendo] take place nowadays at the annual meetings of the Butoku-kai, or Association for Preserving the Martial Arts, in Kyōto. 1955 E. J. Harrison Fighting Spirit of Japan (ed. 2) x. 97 Of that branch of Japanese esoterics which belongs to what may generically be styled bujutsu, literally ‘martial arts’, though the Japanese terminology has a far wider and more comprehensive scope than its English equivalent, I may justly claim to know something. 1966 [see kendo]. 1968 [see Kung-fu]. 1974 Isle of Wight County Press 23 Nov. 31 Mr. Singleton, who holds a Kendo black belt, a brown belt in Karate, and has just taken up Ju-Jitsu, said he had no intention of ‘cashing in’ on the current martial arts boom. |
c. Of music: Appropriate to warfare.
| 1662 Dryden Astræa Redux 198 The incensed powers beheld..An heaven..Which durst with..martial brass, belie the thunder's sound. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 540 All the while Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds. a 1704 T. Brown Praise of Drunkenness Wks. 1730 I. 37 The martial kettle-drum. 1708 Pope Ode St. Cecilia 37 When our Country's cause provokes to Arms, How martial musick ev'ry bosom warms! 1784 Cowper Task vi. 3 The ear is pleased With melting airs or martial. 1869 Rawlinson Anc. Hist. 36 They had a lively and martial music. |
2. Of or pertaining to ‘the Army’, or the military profession. Obs. exc. in court martial, ‘military’ as opposed to ‘civil’ or ‘civilian’. † martial name: a fictitious name adopted by a soldier (= F. nom de guerre).
| 1470 Harding Chron. clxxviii. xx, Without rule of marcill gouernaunce. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. IV 7 b, He..caused dyvers lustie men to appele divers olde men upon matters determinable as the common lawe in the court marcial. 1590 R. Williams (title) A Briefe Discourse of Warre: with his opinion concerning some parts of the Martiall Discipline. 1625 Bacon Ess., Love (Arb.) 447, I know not how, but Martiall Men, are giuen to Loue. 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 546 Dauid de Argenton, a Norman, and a martiall knight. 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5322/3 To be Advocate-General, or Judge Martial of all His Majesty's Forces in England. 1757 Chesterfield Lett. (1792) IV. cccxxiv. 102 Some are for a Parliamentary inquiry, others for a Martial one. 1761 Ann. Reg. ii. 3 They laid aside their surnames, and assumed nick-names, or martial names. |
3. martial law. a. That kind of military government of a country or district, by which the ordinary law is suspended, and the military authorities are empowered to arrest all suspected persons at their discretion, and to punish offenders without formal trial. † b. Formerly sometimes applied to what is now called ‘military law’, viz. the body of enactments and rules for the government of the army; an enactment or rule forming part of this.
Originally these two senses (in which the adj. has respectively senses 1 and 2) would not always be distinguishable, as military law existed only in war-time, and consisted mainly of temporary and occasional ordinances; our earliest quots., however, distinctly exhibit the same use as is now current. In early examples the adj. is often assimilated in spelling to marshal n., and it was a common opinion that ‘marshal law’ was so called as being the law emanating from the lord marshal. Mod. Fr. has loi martiale, but perh. from English.
| 1533 More Debell. Salem ii. xv. 61 Yf the lawe were so that the iudges myght procede and put felons to answere without endyghtementes, as in treason is vsed in thys realme by the lawe marshall vppon warre rered. 1537 Hen. VIII Let. Dk. Norf. in State Papers (1830) ii. 537 We doo ryght well approve and allowe your proceedings in the displayng of our Baner. And forasmoche as the same is now..displayed..the cours of our lawes must geve place to thordenaunces and estatutes marciall; our pleasure is that..you shal..cause such dredfull execution to be done upon a good nombre of thinhabitauntes of euery towne, village and hamlet that have offended in this rebellion..as they may be a ferefull spectacle to all other herafter, that wold practise any like mater. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 231 According to the law mershal thei wer adiudged to die. 1568 in J. Hooker Life Sir P. Carew (1857) 207 Not by martyall lawe, but by veredicte of twelve men, orderly. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. viii. 46 Please your Maiestie, let his Neck answere for it, if there is any Marshall Law in the World. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 27 His Lordship had power..to make Martiall Lawes (he being Lord Martiall of England), and to punish the transgressors. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. ii. xxiv. (1821) 449 Wee doe hereby giue, and commit unto you full power and authority to execute by Marshall Law, all notable and apparent Offenders. c 1645 Howell Letters ii. lix. (1650) 86 The Lawes themselves, civil as well as martiall, were publish'd and executed in Latine. a 1676 Hale Common Law (1713) 40 Touching..Martial Law, these Things are to be observed... First, That in Truth and Reality it is not a Law, but something indulged rather than allowed as a Law; the Necessity of..Order and Discipline in an Army, is that only which can give those Laws a Countenance... Secondly, This indulged Law was only to extend to Members of the Army, or to those of the opposite Army. 1751 Affect. Narr. Wager 40 [He] protested that he would go as far in punishing the Criminals as the Martial Law would permit. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. v. 241 For this ordinary crime the queen could hardly be prevented from directing him to be tried instantly by martial law. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India II. 143 Martial law was proclaimed. 1851 Wellington in Hansard's Parl. Deb. Ser. iii. CXV. 880 Martial law was neither more nor less than the will of the general who commands the army. In fact, martial law meant no law at all. |
| attrib. 1900 Daily News 12 Mar. 5/3 Newspapers..published outside the Martial Law districts. |
4. Warlike; brave; valiant; given to fighting. Formerly often with some notion of sense 7 a.
| 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. vi. (1494) C v b, A werre began Geyne romaynes this marciall [1554 ed. mercial] woman. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. i. 21 Bur. But what's that Puzell... Tal. A Maid, they say. Bed. A Maid? And be so martiall? 1625 Bacon Ess., Viciss. Things (Arb.) 573 The Northern Tract of the World, is in Nature the more Martiall Region. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xix. 120 Women have often been the nets to catch and ensnare the souls of many Martiall men. 1736 S. Wesley Battle of Sexes 56 Sounding trumpets' breath Kindles in martial breasts stern love of war. 1744 Harris Three Treat. (1841) 40 There are sounds to make us cheerful, or sad; martial, or tender. 1821 Byron Mar. Fal. iii. ii, My nephew and the clients of our house Many and martial. 1870 Bryant Homer I. ii. 56 Wake the martial spirit in their breasts. |
| Comb. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 296 The poore Prince..as a martiall minded man..said [etc.]. 1629 H. Burton Babel no Bethel 97 Who seeing the Martiallike Prelate accompanied with armmed men, begun to laugh. |
5. Characteristic of or befitting a warrior.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. i. 166 He Tilts With Peircing steele at bold Mercutio's breast, Who..with a Martiall scorne, with one hand beates Cold death aside, and with the other sends It back to Tybalt. 1602 ― Twel. N. iii. ii. 45 An. Will either of you beare me a challenge to him? To. Go, write it in a martial hand, be curst and briefe. 1608 D. T[uvil] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 37 b, By reason of his Martiall carriage and aspect. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 640 He steps right onward, martial in his air, His form, and movement. 1816 L. Hunt Rimini iii. 20 Some tastes there were indeed that would prefer Giovanni's countenance as the martialler. 1817 Wolfe Burial Sir J. Moore iii, But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, With his martial cloak around him. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxvii. (1878) 474 With almost a martial stride the little creature walked up to the speaker. |
6. Resembling what pertains to the god Mars.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 310 His Foote Mercuriall: his martiall Thigh: The brawnes of Hercules. |
7. Of, or belonging to, the planet Mars. a. Astrol. (often, subject to the influence of Mars; hence applied to venomous animals and to plants with violently active properties). b. Astron. (= Martian). Now with capital initial.
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. i. ii. (1676) 27/1 Gregorius Tholosanus makes seven kinds of ætherial Spirits or Angels, according to the number of the seven Planets Saturnine, Jovial, Martial. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. xiv. (1658) 417 The fixed Stars..are esteemed Martial or Jovial, according to the colours whereby they answer these Planets. 1647 Lilly Chr. Astrol. xv. 84 A Martiall Man, is many times full faced with a lively high colour. 1652 Culpepper Eng. Physic. (1656) 377 Suppose a Man be bitten or stung by a Martial Creature, Wormwood an herb of Mars, giveth you present cure. Ibid. 42 They are furious Martial Plants. 1784 Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXIV. 273 The point Aries on the martial ecliptic answers to our 19° 28{p} of Sagittarius. 1868 Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 210 The Terrestrial and Martial seasons. 1878 Newcomb Pop. Astron. iii. iii. 321 Clouds in a Martial atmosphere. |
8. In early Chemistry: Of or pertaining to iron; containing iron. Obs. exc. in certain names (now little used) of chemical compounds and pharmaceutical preparations.
| 1684–5 Boyle Min. Waters ad fin., I found..that more than one of our English Martial Springs..were too much weakened by the Water that Rained into them. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Martial Regulus of Antimony. 1708 J. Philips Cyder i. 36 Our Mines produce As perfect Martial Ore. 1741 Hankewitz in Phil. Trans. XLI. 828 All Martial Waters will, with Galls, turn blackish or inky. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 14 This volatile acid..flies off, leaving the iron to precipitate in the form of a martial earth. 1776 J. Clegg in T. Percival Ess. (1776) III. App. 333 Lime-water tends to deepen the colour produced by some astringents and martial vitriol. 1789 A. Crawford in Med. Commun. II. 311, I had..made trial of the tincture of martial flowers. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 82 It was a compleat Martial Liver of sulphur. 1822 J. Imison Sci. & Art II. 105 Black oxide of iron formerly martial ethiops. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 330 The smallest quantity of clay, gypsum, or martial matter. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 765 Humid Assay of Gold mixed with Martial Pyrites. 1889 Syd. Soc. Lex., Martial preparations, medicaments containing iron or a salt of iron. |
† 9. Of the month of March. Obs. rare—1.
| 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. cxci, Thankit mot be the sanctis marciall, That me first causit hath this accident. |
B. n.
† 1. pl. Poems about wars. nonce-use.
| 1589 Fleming Virg. Argt. 3 His Bucoliks, or Pastoralls..his Georgiks or ruralls..his æneids or Martialls. |
† 2. ? One born under the influence of Mars. Obs.
| 1605 Timme Quersitanus i. xi. 47 There are starres which haue their most cold & moyste spirites..others most hote & drie, as the Solarie & Martialls. |
† 3. A martial person, a soldier. Obs.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad xviii. 469 The Queene of martials And Mars him selfe conducted them. |
4. A Martian. rare.
| 1880 P. Greg Across Zodiac I. v. 115 Every Martial can write at least as quickly as he can speak. |
Add: [A.] 10. Special collocation: martial eagle, a large brown and white crested eagle, Polemaetus bellicosus, of central and southern Africa, which preys on game birds and some mammals.
| 1861 Ibis III. 129 (heading) Aquila bellicosa (Daud.). *Martial eagle. 1908 Haagner & Ivy Sk. S. Afr. Bird-Life iii. 55 The Martial Eagle..is dark sepia above and below, except the abdominal regions. 1947 J. Stevenson-Hamilton Wild Life S. Afr. xxxiii. 279 The martial eagle or lammervanger (Polemaetus bellicosus).—This is one of the handsomest, as well as the largest of the tribe found in Africa. 1973 Sci. Amer. Dec. 103/3 The African martial eagle..uses thermals in much the same way that smaller eagles and hawks use a rocky crag or a telephone pole. 1986 Daily Tel. 29 Apr. 4/3 [He] pleaded guilty to importing the eggs of three crowned eagles, four martial eagles and two Verreaux's eagles. |
▪ II. martial
obs. form of marshal.