▪ I. battle, n.
(ˈbæt(ə)l)
Forms: 3–6 batayle, 4–6 bataile, -ayl, -ail, 4 bateil, -al, 4–5 bataill(e, batel(e, 5 batayll(e, -aill, -eyl, -eil, -elle, -ill, (Sc.) battalȝe, 5–6 batel(e, battayle, battal(l, 5–7 batell, battell, 6 batyl, battaille, -ayl(l, (Sc.) battal, 6–7 battail(e, batle, 6–9 battel, 6– battle.
[ME. batayle, -aile, -aille, a. OF. bataille (= It. battaglia, Sp. batalla):—vulgar L. battālia, corruption of late L. battuālia, neut. pl. of adj. *battuālis, f. late L. battu-ĕre to beat (perh. of Celtic origin). Battuālia is mentioned by the grammarian Adamantius or Martyrius (Keil Gram. Lat. vii. 178) as a neut. pl. meaning ‘exercitationes militum vel gladiatorum’: Cassiodorius (Keil ibid.), reproducing the passage, adds, ‘quæ vulgo battālia dicuntur.’ Like murālia, mirabilia, biblia, and many other neuter plurals, battālia came to be used as a feminine sing. in Romanic.]
I. A fight, fighting.
1. a. A hostile engagement or encounter between opposing forces on land or sea; a combat, a fight.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 369 Þere, as þe batayle was, an abbey he let rere..Þat ys ycluped in Engelond, abbey of þe batayle. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 61 At mortal batailles [bataylis] hadde he been fiftene. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 64 A man that fled venquisshed from a bataille. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 4 The victory in many great batayles. 1535 Coverdale 1 Chron. xxi. Cont., Of certaine batels which Dauid winneth. 1559 Bp. Scot in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. vii. 18 Our king..shall fyght our battailles for us. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 49 The sea-battell at Actium. 1642 Prince Rupert Declar. 3 In a battell, where two Armies fight. 1728 Newton Chronol. Amended Introd. 7 Before the Battel of Thermopylæ. 1808 Scott Marm. vi. xxvi, Wide raged the battle on the plain. |
b. With various qualifying attributes:
close battle, a naval battle at ‘close quarters,’ in which the ships engage each other side by side. pitched battle, a battle which has been planned, and of which the ground has been chosen beforehand, by both sides. plain battle, ‘open field,’ fair fight. general's battle, a battle in which the issue turns mainly upon the skill of the general, as contrasted with a soldier's battle, in which the main element is the courage and energy of the soldier.
| 1529 Rastell Pastyme (1811) 64 He slew, in playne battayl, Grosius, kynge of Wandalys. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 206 Haue I not in a pitched battell heard Loud larums? 1840 Napier Penins. War VI. xxii. iv. 269 It [Passage of the Bidassoa] was a general's not a soldier's battle. Wellington had with overmastering combinations overwhelmed each point of attack. 1850 E. Warburton Cresc. & Cross I. 36 The signal for ‘close battle’ flew from his mast head. 1851 E. Creasy Decis. Battles (1864) 187 To encounter Varus's army in a pitched battle. |
2. a. A fight between two persons, a single combat, a duel. trial by battle: the legal decision of a dispute by the issue of a single combat.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3463 Bituix vn-born a batel blind. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas ii. xxix. (1554) 65 b, Romains By singuler batayle had wonne the victory. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 26 Batayle, pugna, duellum. 1556 Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 12 A gret batle rose betwene Roberte Glocitre & Arthur Ormesby in Smythfelde. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 92, I say, and will in battaile proue..That, etc. 1641 Termes de la Ley 39 Battaile is an ancient triall in our Law, which the Defendant in appeale of murder, robbery, or felony, may chuse. 1641 in Rushworth Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 356 The House afterwards Ordered a Bill to be brought in to take away Tryal by Battel. 1819 Rees Cycl. s.v. Battle, The last trial by battel that was waged in the court of common pleas at Westminster..was in 1571. |
b. An encounter between two animals, especially when set to fight to provide sport. Hence battle-cock, a fighting cock.
| 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. viii. (1628) 284 Beasts of battaile, as is..the beare. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. iii. 36 His Cocks do winne the Battaile, still of mine. 1611 Markham Countr. Content. i. xix, The breeding of these Cocks for the battail, is much differing from those of the dung-hill. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4005/4 There will be..a Cock Match..for 6 Guineas a Battel. |
3. battle royal, a fight in which several combatants engage (spec. applied to a cock-fight of this character); a general engagement; a ‘free’ fight; hence fig. a general squabble.
| 1672 J. Howard All Mistaken i. (D.) Hist—now for a battle-royal. 1687 Dryden Hind. & P. ii. 248 Though Luther, Zuinglius, Calvin, holy chiefs Have made a battel Royal of beliefs. 1804 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. VI. 178 We may as well have a Battle Royal, Line-of-Battle Ships opposed to Ships of the Line, and Frigates to Frigates. 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. ci. 1 Cockerels crow across a ditch, till they get up a battle-royal. |
4. (In certain phrases): The favourable issue of a combat, victory (cf. game, match, race). to give the battle: to grant victory. to have the battle: to be victorious. it is half the battle: (said of anything which contributes largely to success).
| c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 1003 Whether is the better?.. He that has the bataile. 1611 Bible Eccles. ix. 11 The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. 1849 Marryat Valerie ii, Youth..is more than half the battle. |
5. (Without article or pl.): Fighting, actual hostilities, conflict between enemies, war.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 6970 Whenne þat þei to bataile ȝede. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 105 Durst nane of Walis in bataill ride. c 1400 Destr. Troy iv. 1216 Pollux..Brusshit into batell & moche bale wroght. c 1430 Life St. Kath. (1884) 61 The tyraunt Maxence went in batayle aȝenst the Emperour Constantyne. 1535 Coverdale Josh. ii. 19 They wanne them all with battayll. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 27 His steede..did cruell battell breath. 1676 Hobbes Iliad i. 238 Two ages he in battel honour gain'd. 1872 Ruskin Fors Clav. xiv. II. 8 The best men still go out to battle. |
† 6. A continued state of hostilities between two or more armed forces, a war. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Wisd. xiv. 22 In gret bataile [1611 war] or vnkunnyng liuende. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. IV. 153 Þe bataille þat heet bellum Sociale. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 262 b, Sylla..made civile battail with Marius. 1557 Paynell Barclay's Jugurth B j, The Romayns had thre notable and famous batayls agaynste the Carthaginences. |
7. fig. Strife, conflict, contest, struggle for victory.
| c 1375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. 1871 II. 250 Batailis and stryvyngis in plee shulden be forsaken of Cristene men. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 1118 His gret bataile He had on crosse of tree. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lv. 21 Their mouthes are softer then butter and yet haue they batell in their mynde. 1704 Swift Batt. Bks. (1711) 215 The Battel between the antient and modern Books. 1863 Stanley Jew. Ch. xi. 246 Round this famous prayer was fought a battle of words. 1864 Kingsley Lett. (1878) II. 197 It is curious to watch the battle between the two waters, quite unmixed, owing to their different specific gravity. |
II. Battle array, an army or battalion in array.
8. a. A body or line of troops in battle array, whether composing an entire army, or one of its main divisions; = battalion. arch. (since c 1700).
| 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 276, I se an oste..comand bi batailes ten. c 1350 Will. Palerne 3562 Alle his burnes bliue in x batailes he sett. c 1400 Destr. Troy vi. 2133 Gird furthe into grese with a gret batell. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxvii. 234 Kyng Edward in a felde fast by crescy hauyng iij batayls countred and met with philip of valoys hauyng with hym iiij bataylles. 1560 Whitehorne Art Warre (1573) 21 b, A Macedonicall Fallange, was no other wise then is now a days a battaile of Swizzers. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. i. 129 What may the Kings whole Battaile reach vnto? 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iii. i. 32 Whereof we frame our battels or battaillions. 1664 S. Clarke Tamerlane 8 He divided his Army into three main Battels. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece III. vi. 58 Their Phalanx is..a square Battail of Pike-men. a 1718 Rowe Lucan (1807) 141 The joining battles shout. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. x, In battles four beneath their eye, The forces of King Robert lie. |
b. fig. A martial array, a line.
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. civ, On his [the boar's] bow-back he hath a battle set Of bristly pikes. |
† 9. (More fully called ‘great’ or ‘main battle’): The main body of an army or naval force, as distinguished from the van and rear, or from the wings; = battalia 2 c, battalion 1 b. Obs.
| 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. i. xxiii. 71 After the fyrst bataylle that men calle the forwarde commeth the grete bataylle. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 299 They thus directed, we will follow In the maine Battell. 1655 Fuller Ch.-Hist. viii. §36 IV. 171 He suffered Wyat his Van and main Battell..to march undisturbed..to Charing Chrosse. |
| 1548 W. Patten Exped. Scot. in Arber Eng. Garner III. 82 Our three Battles kept order in pace..The Foreward, foremost; the Battle, in the midst; and the Rereward, hindermost. a 1618 Raleigh Invent. Shipping 30 A Vanguard..of these hoyes..with a Battaile of 400 other warlike ships, and a Reare of thirty. 1655 Lestrange Chas. I, 112 So terrible a shock, as..disordered both Battail and Rere. 1868 Kirk Chas. Bold III. v. iii. 436 The artillery..was divided between the vanguard and the ‘battle,’ or main body. |
† 10. Battle array; = battalia 1. Obs.
| 1570–87 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) I. 200 Seeing the enemies readie ranged in battel. 1596 Sir F. Vere Comm. 37 He should march on roundly to the enemy where they stood in battel. |
III. Phrases (chiefly in sense 1).
11. In obvious phrases, as to have battle, keep battle, make battle, smite battle, strike, battle (all obs.); to bid battle (obs.), offer battle, refuse battle, accept battle, take (arch.) battle; to join battle; also, to do battle, to fight; to give battle, to attack, engage; to pitch a battle (cf. pitched battle in 1 b).
| 1297 R. Glouc. 514 Hii mette hom atte laste..at Lincolne..& smite there an bataile. a 1300 Cursor M. 471 Aȝeyn him ȝaf he batail grym. 1460 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 185 Þe world biddiþ me bataile blijf. 1475 Caxton Jason 76 They had batayll togeder. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. iii, His enemies..did a great battle upon his men. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, lxiii. Pream., Divers..rered Warre, and made Bataill ayenst him. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge (1848) 181 William Conquerour Pight a stronge batell. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 336 a, The battail was kept in Cherronea. 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 64 To make battel vpon the Sabboth day. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. iv. 66 Here pitch our Battaile, hence we will not budge. 1599 ― Hen. V, ii. iv. 54 When Cressy Battell fatally was strucke. 1611 Bible Gen. xiv. 8 They joyned battell with them, in the vale of Siddim. 1656 H. More Antid. Ath. ii. viii. 117 He did bid battel to the very fiercest of them. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 382 Before the Battel joins. 1723 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 125 Shall we give battle to the imperialists or not? 1847 Maxwell Vict. Brit. Armies 270 He advanced with sixty thousand men, determined to offer battle. 1851 E. Creasy Decis. Battles (1864) 48 Miltiades immediately joined battle and gained the victory Ibid. 149 He should abstain from giving or taking battle. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! xxxi. (1878) 496 The Spaniard had refused battle. 1881 R. Stevenson Virg. Puerisque 85 We must strive and do battle for the truth. |
12. line of battle: the position of troops drawn up in battle array in their usual order; the line or arrangement formed by ships of war in an engagement. Hence line-of-battle ship, a ship of sufficient size to take part in a main attack; formerly, one of 74 guns and upward; also irreg. line of battleship.
| 1695 Addison King Misc. Wks. 1726 I. 11 Spain's numerous Fleet..Cou'd scarce a longer Line of battel boast. 1705 Admiralty Sec. In-Lett. 5249 (P.R.O.), The capital ships and line-of-battle ships are often laid up in the winter. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4700/1 Eighteen Men of War, all of the Line of Battel. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) A a, In the line, or order of battle, all the ships..are close-hauled. 1800 Nelson in A. Duncan Nelson (1806) 121, I saw the Alexander in chase of a line of battle ship. 1842 Wellington in Gurwood Disp. X. 516 The army..made up in the form of what is called ‘a line of battle.’ 1863 Cornh. Mag. Feb. Life Man-of-War, The typical vessel—the two-decker line-of-battle ship, say of eighty guns. 1894 Times (weekly ed.) 19 Jan. 50/1 A heavily armoured line-of-battleship. 1899 R. Routledge Discov. & Invent. 19th Cent. (ed. 13) 167 Before the close of 1894, the British navy possessed no fewer than eight of the largest armoured line of battle-ships. |
IV. Combs.
13. General relations: a. instrumental with pa. pple., as battle-grimed, battle-hardened, battle-scarred, battle-slain, battle-spent (exhausted with fighting), battle-tried, battle-weary, battle-writhen (twisted in struggle) adjs.; b. attrib. with n., as battle-day, battle-din, battle fleet, battle-front, battle-hymn, battle-line, battle-order, battle-painter, battle-picture, battle-place, battle-practice (also attrib.), battle-rank, battle-shout, battle-smoke, battle-song, battle-training, battle-zone, and poetical combinations without limit.
| 1701 Lond. Gaz. 3694/4 Mr. Alexander van Gaalon, the Battel-Painter. 1814 Byron Lara ii. xi, The battle-day They could encounter as a veteran may. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iv. xxx, To wreak thy wrongs in battle-line. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. viii, The steel Host, that yelled in fierce battle-shouts at Issus and Arbela. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 808 Battle-writhen arms and mighty hands. 1862 [J. W. Howe] in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 145 Battle Hymn of the Republic. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: [etc.]. 1865 O. W. Holmes To Gen. Grant, Our leaders battle-scarred. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. iv. 12 The battle-din was loud. 1877 Tennyson Harold iii. i. 87 A ghostly horn Blowing continually, and faint battle-hymns. 1897 Trans. Inst. Naval Archit. XXXVIII. 50 These two ships form still part of the German battle fleet. 1898 Kipling Fleet in Being ii. 17 That a cruiser at 7.30 that morning had reported to the Battle Fleet..‘Enemy to the Westward’. 1899 R. Meinertzhagen Army Diary 1 July (1960) 15 The hopelessly out-of-date battle-training of my battalion. 1900 Blackw. Mag. Dec. 931/2 No amount of battle-smoke can hide the red stain of pure unadulterated murder. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 6 Jan. 4/3 So long as our battle-fleet is able to keep the seas. 1905 L. Binyon Penthesilea 38 So now the battle-weary Greeks prepared their meal. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 20 June 2/2 Battle-practice has for 1905 been ordered on more regular and practical lines than hitherto. 1907 Daily Chron. 14 Oct. 4/4 Winchelsea sees battle-grimed French and Spaniards scale her walls. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 18 Jan. 3/1 These men fought in the ranks of battle-tried battalions. Ibid. 9 Feb. 1/2 Mr. Solano, the inventor of the new system of battle-practice targets, which has received the approval of the War Office. 1914 Scotsman 6 Oct. 4/1 The latest news from the two great battle-fronts affords no ground for dissatisfaction. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 21 May 399/3 Soult..decided to make the main defence in the rear line, turning this into the ‘battle zone’, as it was called in France in 1918. 1937 Koestler Span. Testament iv. 82 Every town along the enemy's line of retreat and all the areas behind the enemy lines are to be considered as battle zones. 1940 W. Temple Thoughts in War-time vii. 43 If we pray as Christ taught us to pray, we pray in perfect unity on both sides of the battle-front. 1944 Ann. Reg. 1943 19 In training the most notable innovation had been the introduction of realistic battle training. 1945 Finito! Po Valley Campaign 31 Exhausted, battle-weary crews. 1949 Koestler Promise & Fulf. iii. i. 299 The battle-hardened workers of the Soviet Union. 1949 E. Pound Pisan Cantos lxxx. 88 Following the Battle Hymn of the Republic. |
14. Special combinations: battle array, formerly battle-ray, the order of troops arranged for battle; battle bowler slang = tin hat 1; battle-cry, a war-cry, a slogan; battle-field, -ground, the field or ground on which a battle is fought; battle-lantern, a lantern used on a ship; formerly one placed at each gun to light up the deck during a night engagement, a fighting-lantern; battle-piece, a painting of a battle, a poetical or rhetorical passage describing a battle; † battle-ram, a battering-ram; battle-school, a military establishment providing training under conditions resembling those of battle; battle-stead (arch.), place of battle; battle-twig dial. [corruption of beetle-wig; cf. beetle n.2, earwig n.], an earwig; see also quot. 1942; battle-wag(g)on slang (orig. U.S.), (a) a battleship; (b) (see quot. 1926); (c) an armed or armoured vehicle; battle-word, war-cry; † battle-wright, a warrior; battle-wise adv., in manner or order of battle.
| 1552 Huloet, *Battayle arraye, in fourme or order of battayle, turmatim. c 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) xii. 66 The King is into Finsbury field Marching in battle-ray. 1618 Bolton Florus (1636) 234 Athenio..puts them under Banners into battelray. 1840 Thirlwall Greece VII. lviii. 285 The two armies were drawn up in battle-array. |
| 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 19 *Battle-bowler. 1940 N. Mitford Pigeon Pie iv. 75 She lunched alone at the Ritz yesterday in a black wig, a battle bowler and her silver foxes. |
| 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xxxii, He shouted loud his *battle-cry, ‘Saint James for Argentine!’ 1879 Pall Mall Budg. 12 Sept. 8 The noisy battle-cries that are put into their mouths. |
| 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. lxxxix, The *Battle-field, where Persia's victim horde First bow'd. 1820 Scott Abbot xxii, The French and English have..made Scotland the battle-field on which to fight out their own ancient quarrel. |
| 1865 Mill Exam. Hamilton 154 The question of an external world is the great *battle-ground of metaphysics. |
| 1830 J. F. Cooper Water Witch III. vii. 206 Lifting a lighted *battle-lantern to his face, he saw that he slept. 1938 Masefield Dead Ned 235 He had a battle-lantern with him, a ship's lamp with a strong reflector. |
| 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. 379 Representations of the human passions; as we see even in *battel-pieces. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. v. 271 Verses which echo the true ring of the battle-pieces of Homer. |
| 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xxi. 22 To crie out Alarum, to set *batell-rammes agaynst the gates. |
| 1942 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 18 Mar.–9 June 219 Attack is the spirit of the *battle school. |
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xiv. 301 [Thai] levit in the *battell-stede Weill mony of thar gud men ded. |
| 1787 Grose Prov. Gloss., *Battle-twig, an earwig. Derb. 1885 Tennyson Tiresias, etc. 111 'Twur as bad as a battle-twig 'ere i' my oän blue chaumber to me. 1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 144 There isn't a damn thing in 'em..they haven't the spunk of a battle-twig. 1942 Archit. Rev. XCII. 154/2 He has needles of several sizes and of two different types: the small ‘battletwig’ (i.e. earwig) needle for tiny work, the regular netting needle for string and rope nets. |
| 1926 Amer. Speech I. 650/2 *Battle wagon, an iron coal car. 1927 Ibid. III. 452 Battle wagon, warship. 1938 Newsweek 14 Nov. 11/2 The Navy had sent out bids..for three new 35,000-ton battlewagons. 1945 Penguin New Writing XXIII. 10 But the battle-wagon—her great guns swing up in a silent arc. 1949 F. Maclean Eastern Appr. ii. ii. 200 The ‘battlewagon’..was a new, cut-down Ford station waggon... It was fitted with mountings for two machine guns in front and two behind. |
| 1559 Myrr. for Mag., Jack Cade ix. 6 And *battayle wyse to cum to blackeheth playne. 1622 Mabbe Aleman's Guzman d' Alf. ii. 333 Wee did presently battell-wise cast our selues into a Wing. |
| 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xxvii, Sinks, Argentine, thy *battle-word. |
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7495 Yon es a stalworth *batail wright. |
▪ II. battle
variant of battel n.
▪ III. battle, battel, a. Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈbæt(ə)l)
Forms: 6–7 battill, battell, batle, battle, 6 batel(l, 7 battel, 8–9 Sc. baittle, bettle.
[For the etymology and mutual relations of this and the cognate battle v.3, data are wanting; according to present evidence, the adj. appears earliest, being found in Scotch in 1513. Its form and sense agree with a derivation from *bat, representing ON. bati ‘improvement, getting better,’ Du. baat ‘improvement, advantage, profiting, profit,’ referred to under batten v.1; with suffix as in brittle, bruckle, fickle, newfangle, and OE. etol, drincol, wittol. This would give as the primary sense ‘given, tending, or fitted, to improve, better, fatten, etc.’ All the related words have a smack of Northern origin: ‘battle or baittle grass’ is still common in south of Scotland.
The non-occurrence of bat, while its presumed derivatives, battle, battable, batful, batsome, are so frequent in 16–17th c., is a difficulty; as is also the fact that batt-le, batt-able point to a verbal rather than a substantive base, and yet can hardly have been formed on batt-en.]
1. Of grass or pasture: Improving or nutritious to sheep and cattle; feeding, nourishing, fattening.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vi. x. 25 With battill gers, fresche erbis and grene suardis. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. (1822) 13 To refresche thaim with the battell gers thairof. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 28 A battle, sweete, moist, and (as wee say) a naturall grasse, and doth the sheepe much good. 1822 Scott Pirate III. 182 (Jam.) We turn heather into greensward, and the poor yarpha into baittle grass-land. Mod. (Roxburghshire), Hillsides covered with fine baittle grass. |
2. Hence, of soil or land: Rich, fertile, productive, fruitful (properly in pasture, but sometimes generally).
| c 1540 Brinklow Complaynt iv. B. v b, Y⊇ most batell and frutefull grownd in Ingland. 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 6 A fruitfull profitable, and a batle ground. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 472 The soile is exceeding battill and fat. 1610 ― Camden's Brit. ii. 102 A plenteous and battle country for feeding and raising of cattell. 1609 Butler Fem. Mon. i. (1623) B j, There is no ground..whether it be battle or barren. 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 214 Battel or fruitful, fertilis. 1807 Hogg Mount. Bard 124 (Jam.) On Ettrick's baittle haughs. |
▪ IV. battle, v.1
(ˈbæt(ə)l)
Forms: 4 bataille, -ale, 4–5 -ail, 5 -aylle, -el(l, -ol, -il, 6 -ayle, battaile, 7– battle.
[a. F. bataille-r (12th c. in Littré) to fight, f. bataille battle.]
1. intr. To fight, to engage in war. (Now rare in literal sense, in which fight is usual.)
| 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 252 In þinkeng of alle þis, þe batailed in þe se. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. iv. 18 Whom þei han seyn alwey batailen and defenden goode men. c 1400 Destr. Troy iii. 945 These balefull brether batell so longe. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 430/1 This..fader bataylled and foughte ageynst the heretykes. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. v. 74 Whiles Lyons Warre, and bataile for their Dennes. 1704 Rowe Ulysses Prol. 8 To seek Renown And Battel for a Harlot at Troy Town. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. viii, To..battle with innumerable wolves. |
b. fig. To contend, maintain a (usually defensive) struggle, e.g. with or against pestilence, bigotry, the waves, etc.
| 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) i. vii. 75 To resist and batayle in this present lyfe. 1729 Swift Libel Delany Wks. 1755 IV. i. 99 His virtues battling with his place. 1820 Scott Abbot viii, A lively brook, which battled with every stone that interrupted its passage. 1876 Green Short Hist. 713 Walpole battled stubbornly against the cry of war. |
c. (with indefinite object) to battle it (lit. and fig.).
| 1714 Addison Spect. No. 556 ¶9, I was battling it across the Table with a young Templar. 1821 Byron Sardan. v. i. 60 They battle it beyond the wall. 1885 Browning Ferishtah 141 So we battled it like men. |
† 2. trans. and refl. To put into battle array, form into battalions, embattle. Obs.
| 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 170 Þan cried Richard on hie, ‘Now batale vs belyue.’ c 1430 Syr Gener. 7822 Thei batailed hem in ranges fiftene. |
3. trans. To give battle to, fight against, assail in battle. Also fig.
| c 1399 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 9 Cristes feith is every dal assailed..and batailed. 1590 Greene Orl. Fur. (1599) 31 To battaile him that scornes to iniure thee. 1765 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 39 The work..of battling the opinions of others. |
| 1852 Dickinson in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIII. ii. 257 The calves are suffered to battle each other in loose sheds. |
4. Phrases.
| 1794 Southey Bot. Bay Eclog. iii, Every step that he takes he must battle his way. 1875 B. Taylor Faust ii. iii. II. 103 Here a lesson grand was battled to the end. |
▪ V. † ˈbattle, v.2 Obs.
Forms: 4 batayle, -aile, 5 battaile, 7 battel: see battled ppl. a.2
[a. OF. bataillie-r, -eillie-r (= Pr. batalhar) to furnish with batailles ‘battlements,’ temporary or movable turrets of wood, etc. erected upon walls when besieged; formally the same word as bataille battle, though the sense-development is not clear. Later OF. had also in same sense batillier, bastillier, either a distinct formation on bastille (see bastille), or refashioned after this word, which eventually displaced bataillier, so that mod.F. has only bastiller: in Eng. on the other hand the word followed the phonetic course of battle. See also battlement.]
trans. To fortify or furnish with battlements. (Usually in passive: cf. battled ppl. a.2)
| c 1340 Cursor M. (Trin.) 9902 Þis castel..of loue and grace..is..batailed aboute al wiþ sele. c 1375 Barbour Bruce ii. 221 Perth..then wes wallyt all about With feile towris rycht hey battaillyt. c 1618 Fletcher Woman's Prize iii. ii. 110 Ile have it batteld too. |
▪ VI. † battle, battel, v.3 Obs.
(ˈbæt(ə)l)
Forms: 6 battill, battell, 7 batle, 7, 9 battel, 6– battle.
[See battle a., of which this appears to be a derivative, and cf. the synonymous batt-en v.1
(As we cannot be quite sure whether the pr. pple. in the earliest instances is trans. ‘feeding,’ or intr. ‘thriving, flourishing,’ the order of development is uncertain. If derived from the adj., we should expect the earliest sense to be ‘to render pasture or land battle, to fertilize.’)]
I. transitive.
† 1. To nourish cattle, as a rich pasture does; to feed or nourish (men or beasts). Obs.
| 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke Pref. 3 The fatte batleyng yearth of the Paraphrase. 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely i. ii. 120 As they may wish wel to the childe, that are not particularly put in trust to battle it, or to giue it suck. 1653 A. Wilson Jas. I, 43 A Courtier from his infancie, Batteld by Art, and industrie. 1655 Mouff. & Benn. Health's Improv. 190 Snails..towards winter, having..batled themselves fat with sleep. 1662 [see battling ppl. a.2 1]. |
† 2. To render (soil) fertile and productive. Obs.
| 1611 Cotgr., Engraisser un champ, to battle it, or make it fertile. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) I. 399 Ashes are a marvellous improvement to battle barren ground. Ibid. iii. 40 Dove..is the Nilus of Staffordshire, much battling the Meadowes thereof. |
II. intr.
† 3. Of men and animals: To grow fat, to thrive.
| 1575 Turberv. Venerie. 189 The badgerd battles much with slepe and is a verie fat beast. 1601 Holland Pliny ix. xxxi, In autumne and spring they battle and wax fat. 1656 Trapp Comm. 1 Pet. ii. 2 Like the changeling Luther mentioneth, ever sucking, never batling. 1699 Coles, Battle, as cattle turned into rank ground, impascor, vescor..Battle [get flesh] pinguesco. 1721 Bailey, Battle, to feed as Cattle do; to grow fat. |
† 4. To become fertile and fruitful. Obs.
| 1576 Foxe A. & M. To Rdr. ¶ij b, These with fatnes of their bloud dyd cause it [fieldes of the church] to battell and fructifie. 1578 Chr. Prayers in Priv. Prayers Q. Eliz. (1851) 516 That the good seed..battle, as in good ground, and bring forth plentiful fruit. |
▪ VII. † battle, v.4 Obs.
[? freq. of bat v.1, or var. of beetle; cf. batting and batler.]
trans. To beat (clothes) with a wooden beetle during the process of washing, or in order to smooth them after they are dried. See also battling vbl. n.4
| 1570 Levins Manip. 38 To battle clothes, excutere. |
▪ VIII. battle
variant of batelle.