batt 
batt, . An obsolete spoiling of bail, still occa- 
sionally used in some senses. See bat 1 , 10, 11. 
batta 1 (bat'a), w. [Anglo-Ind., formerly also 
battee (cf. batty 3 ), Pg. bata (later in Hind., etc., 
li/Ki/d, lilidtd, allowance for maintenance), per- 
haps < Canarese bhattn, rice in the husk (see 
biit/i/V), generalized to ' subsistence.'] In Brit- 
ish India: (a) Subsistence-money given to 
soldiers, witnesses, prisoners, and others, (ft) 
An allowance in addition to their pay origi- 
nally made to troops serving in the field. 
"Military batta, originally an occasional allowance, as 
clrtlnuil, grew to he a constant addition to the pay of offi- 
cers in India, and constituted the chief part of the excess 
of Indian over Knglish military emoluments." (Vide ami 
ItiiriieU.) It was reduced one half by the governor-gen- 
(nil I, "i.l William llentinck ill 1828. 
batta 2 (bat'a), n. [Anglo-Ind. Hind, batta, 
Bong, batta, (cerebral <).] In British India, 
agio; discount; difference of exchange. 
battablet (bat'a-bl), a. [< bat- in battle^, bat- 
ten 1 , etc., + -able; perhaps, like hatful, a per- 
version of battle 3 , a.] Fattening ; serviceable 
as pasture. Also spelled batable. 
Masfnissa made many inward parts of liarhary and Nu- 
midia in Afriek (before his time, incult and horrid) fruit- 
ful and battable by this means. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., To the Reader. 
battage (ba-tazh'), n. [F., < battre, beat: see 
batc l 7\ 1. Beating; the operation of beating. 
2. In agri., threshing. 3. The operation of 
pulverizing or incorporating the ingredients of 
gunpowder by the old method of stamping with 
pestles. 
Also wrongly spelled batage. 
battailantt, a. and n. [Also batteilant, battel- 
lant, < F. bataillant, ppr. of batailler, combat : 
see battle 1 , t>.] I. a. Combatant. 
I saw an Elephant, 
Adorn'd with bells and bosses gorgeouslle, 
That on his backe did beare (as batteilant) 
A gilden towre, which shone exceedinglie. 
Spenser, World's Vanitie, at. 8. 
II. n. A combatant. 
battailoust (bat'e-lus), a. [Early mod. E. also 
battelous, battellous, battlous, etc., < ME. batai- 
lous, batelouse, batellous, < OF. bataillous, 
bateillous, warlike, < bataille, battle.] War- 
like ; bellicose ; ready for battle. 
In sunbright armes, and battailous array. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. v. 2. 
The French came foremost, battailous and bold. 
Fairfax, tr. of Tasso, i. 87. 
Thoughts and images like stately fleets, . . . some deep 
with silk and spicery, some brooding over the silent thun- 
ders of their battailous armaments. 
Lowell, Among my Books, it. 241. 
battaliat (ba-ta'lia), n. [Early mod. E. also ba- 
talia, batallia, batiaglio, etc., < It. battaglia (= 
Sp. batalla = Pg. Pr. batalha = OF. bataille, > 
K battle 1 ), battle, squadron: see battle 1 .'] 1. 
Order of battle ; battle array. 
I have made all his troops and companisa._ 
Advance and put themselves raHgeit in battalia. 
Chapman, Revenge of Bussy D'Ambols, ill. 1. 
2. Milit. : (a) A. large body of men in order of 
battle or on the march, whether a whole army 
or one of the great divisions of it; a host; an 
army. 
K. Kick. Who hath descried the number of the traitors? 
Nor. Six or seven thousand is their utmost power. 
K. Rwh. Why, our battalia trebles that account. 
Shak., Rich. III., v. 8. 
[Tills is the reading of the folios ; the quarto editions read 
battalion.] 
In three battalias does the king dispose 
His strength, which all in ready order stand, 
And to each other's rescue near at hand. 
May, Edward III. 
(6) The main body or center of an army. 
Wee quickly plac'd Jockey in the right wing, Sir John 
In the left wing, and Old Nick in the Battalia. 
Soar. Decretal, 14. (N. E. D.) 
battalion (ba-tal'yon), n. [Formerly also ba- 
tallion, bataillon, etc., < F. bataillon, < It. bat- 
taglione, battalion, aug. of battaglia, a battle, 
squadron: see battalia, battle 1 .'] If. An army 
in battle array. 
He through the armed flies 
Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse 
The whole battalion views. Milton, P. L., t 569. 
2. In general, any distinct portion of an army 
or minor body of troops acting together: as, 
God is on the side of the largest battalions (a 
saying attributed to Turenne) ; a battalion of 
infantry, cavalry, grenadiers, voltigeurs, etc. in 
the United States two or more detached companies of in- 
fantry, squadrons of cavalry, or batteries of artillery serv- 
ing together are called a battalion, simply for convenience. 
3. Technically, a body of infantry composed 
of two or more companies forming part of a 
regiment, or sometimes constituting a whole 
regiment. In European armies an infantry regiment is 
usually divided into three battalions, sometimes with a 
476 
fourth in reserve from whieh losses in the others are 
tilled. Formerly the regiments of the United States 
army, then consisting of twelve companies, were divided 
into three battalions ; but now each regiment of ten com- 
panies constitutes a single battalion. 
battalioned (ba-tal'yond). a. [< battalion + 
-/'*.] Formed into battalions. 
batteau, . See bateau. 
battel 1 !, n. and v. See battle 1 . 
battel 2 !, v. See battle*. 
battePr, a. and v. See battle^. 
battel 4 (bat'l), n. [Usually in pi. battels, also 
battiet, battclls, first found in the 16th century, 
Latinized batitli, batella;; a peculiar college 
use, of uncertain origin. The sense of 'provi- 
sions' appears much later than that of 'charges 
therefor,' but, if original, suggests a connection 
with battel 3 , battle^, v., feed : see battle 3 .'} 1 . pi. 
At the university of Oxford in England : (a) Col- 
lege accounts for board and provisions supplied 
from the kitchen and buttery, (b) The whole 
of the college accounts for board and lodgings, 
rates, tuition, and contributions to various 
funds. 2. At Eton college, a small allowance 
of food which, in addition to the college allow- 
ance, the collegers receive from their dames. 
Richardson. 
battel 4 (bat'l), v. i. [< battel*, n.~\ To stand 
indebted in the college-books at Oxford for 
provisions and drink from the buttery. 
battelert, [Also batteller, battler, batter ; < 
battel*, battle*, + -er 1 .] 1 . A student at Oxford 
indebted in the college-books for provisions 
and drink at the buttery. 2. One of a rank or 
order of students at Oxford below commoners ; 
a poor student. 
Pierce Pennyless, exceeding poor scholar, that hath made 
clean shoes in both universities, and been a pitiful battler 
all thy lifetime. Middleton, The Black Book. 
battement (bat'ment ; F. pron. bak-e-moii'), n. 
[F., < battre, beat:' see bate 1 , bat 1 , and -ment.'] 
1. A beating; striking; impulse. 2. In music, 
a trill-like ornament, consisting of a slow shake 
of a tone with the next tone below, beginning 
with the latter : common in old-fashioned music. 
batten 1 (bat'n), v. [Not found in ME., but 
prob. existent dialectally; < Icel. batna, grow 
better, improve, recover, = Goth, ga-batnan, be 
bettered, profit, avail, a neut. passive form from 
the pp. *batans of a lost strong verb, "batan 
(pret. *bot), be useful, profit, boot, represented 
secondarily by D. MLG. LG. baten, profit, avail, 
help, and in E. by the derived forms bet 1 , bet- 
ter 1 , and boot 1 : see bet 1 , better 1 , and boot 1 . A 
noun, "bat, improvement, profit (cf. Icel. bati, 
improvement, advantage, D. baat, MLG. LG. 
bate, advantage, profit, gain), is implied as the 
formal base of the adjectives batj'ul, battable, 
but these are appar. manipulated forms of the 
Cr!. adj. battle*, from the verbal root.] I. in- 
trans. 1. To become better; improve m condi- 
tion (especially by feeding); grow fat; thrive. 
It makes her fat, you see ; she battens with It. 
D. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, II. 1. 
2. To feed gluttonously; figuratively, gratify 
a morbid appetite or craving; gloat: absolute- 
ly, or with on or upon. 
Have you eyes 1 
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed, 
And batten on this moor? Shak., Hamlet, 111. 4. 
Her savage birds 
O'er human carcasses do scream and batten. J. Baillie. 
The moths, that were then battening upon its obsolete 
ledgers and day-books, have rested from their depreda- 
tions. /.K,/,/,. South-Sea House. 
Melancholy sceptics . . . who batten on the hideous 
facts in history. Emerson, Society and Solitude, x. 220. 
3. Figuratively, to thrive; prosper; live in 
ease and luxury, especially at the expense or 
to the detriment of others : with on, formerly 
also with : as, to batten on ill-gotten gains. 
And with these thoughts so batten*, as If fate 
Would be as easily cheated on as he. 
B. Jonson, Volpone, L 1. 
H. trans. 1. To improve by feeding; fat- 
ten ; make fat or cause to thrive with plenteous 
feeding. 
Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night. 
Milton, Lycidas, L 29. 
2f. To fertilize or enrich (the soil). 
batten 2 (bat'n), n. [A more English spelling 
of batton, baton, prevailing in the non-literary 
uses of the word: see baton, batoon, boston.] 
1. A strip or scantling of wood. Specifically 
(a) A bar nailed across parallel boards (as those forming a 
door, shutter, etc.) to keep them together, (b) One of the 
strips used as supports for the laths of a plastered wall, 
or for nailing over the cracks between boards, (c) One of 
the narrow strips nailed to a mast or spar, at a place ex- 
posed to friction, to prevent chafing, (rf) A narrow strip 
used to nail down the edges of a tarpaulin over a hatch- 
batter 
way, to prevent leaking in stormy weather, (e) A wooden 
bar or cleat nailed to the lieain of a ship, from which the 
seamen's hammocks are slung. (/) One of the long slips 
used in the molding-loft of a ship-yard in tracing lines 
and setting fair the shear of a ship in molding. 
2. In com., squared timber of 6 or more feet 
in length, 7 inches in width, and 24 inches 
in thickness, used in carpentry and house- 
building for various purposes. Pieces less 
than 6 feet long are known as batten-ends. 
3. In wanning, the beam for striking the weft 
home; a lathe Louvered or loovered battens, 
battens fitted in frames, or between stanchions, in parti- 
tions, etc., at such an angle as to admit air, and yet to pre- 
vent dirt from entering. Fincham, Ship-building, iv. 83. 
See louver. 
batten 2 (bat'n), r. t. [< batterfi, n.] To form 
or fasten with battens To batten down the 
hatches of a ship, to cover them with tarpaulins ami nail 
battens over their edges, so as to prevent water from leak- 
ing below during bad weather. 
batten-door (bat'n-dor), n. A door made of 
narrow boards held together by means of cross- 
battens nailed to them. 
[He] stepped cautiously up to one of the batten doors 
with an auger, and succeeded, without arousing any one, 
in boring a hole. G. W. Cable, The Grandissimes, p. 407. 
battening (bat'ning), w. [Verbal n. of 6ai- 
<e 2 .] 1. The operation of fixing to a wall bat- 
tens, to which are to be nailed laths to receive 
plastering. 2. The battens fixed to a wall for 
this purpose. 
batter 1 (bat'er), v. [< ME. bateren, batren, 
with freq. formative -er, < bat- (repr. in ME. by 
baten (only intrans.) in the sense of bate or 
flutter as a hawk (see bate 1 ); in later ME. 
and mod. E. regarded as freq. of bat (late ME. 
batten), from the noun bat 1 , which may be of 
the same ult. origin), < OF. batrc, F. battre = 
Pr. batre = Sp. batir = Pg. bater = It. battere, 
< ML. (LL.) batere, battere for L. batuere, bat- 
tuere, beat, strike : see bate 1 , battle 1 , etc. Not 
connected with E. beat 1 .] I. trans. 1. To beat 
upon or against ; strike with repeated blows ; 
pound violently, as with the fist, a hammer or 
bludgeon, a battering-ram, cannon-shot, etc.: 
as, to batter a door for admittance; to batter 
the walls of a city (with or without effect). 
The thunderer, whose bolt, you know, 
Sky-planted, batters all rebellious coasts. 
Shak., Cymbeline, T. 4. 
[The) whole artillery of the western blast, 
Battering the Temple's front, its long-drawn nave, 
Smiting as if each moment were their last. 
Wordsworth, Cave of Staffa. 
2. To bruise, break, or shatter by beating ; in- 
jure the substance of by blows ; pound out of 
form or condition: as, to batter a person's 
countenance ; a battered wall or tower ; to bat- 
ter type (that is, bruise the face of it). 
Now were the walls beaten with the rams, and many parts 
thereof shaken and battered. Holland, tr. of Livy, p. 397. 
3. In forging, to spread outwardly, as the ends 
of a metal bar or rod, by hammering; upset. 
E. H. Knight. 
II. intrans. To act by beating or striking; 
use repeated blows ; practise pounding : as, to 
batter away at a door ; to batter upon a wall ; 
battering cannon. 
With all her battering engines bent to rase 
Some capital city. Milton, P. L, II. 923. 
Besiegers break ground at a safe distance, and advance 
gradually till near enough to batter. 
Abp. Whately, Elem. of Rhetoric, I. ill. 6. 
To batter at, to make attacks upon ; try to overthrow or 
destroy. 
The tyrant has not batter'd at their peace? 
Shak., Macbeth, iv. 8. 
To batter In breach, (a) To direct a heavy cannonade 
from a breaching battery against a selected part of the 
wall or rampart inclosing an enemy's fortification, in 
order to level or destroy it, and make an effective breach 
or opening through which an assault In force may be 
made, (b) Specifically, to attempt to breach an enemy's 
works by means of a battery mounted in the third paral- 
lel. To batter in breach, a sufficient number of guns 
should be employed to maintain a practically continuous 
fire, so as to prevent the enemy from repairing the dam- 
age, and to obtain the cumulative effect due to heavy 
firing against a single point. Breaching is sometimes ac- 
complished by firing simultaneous or alternate volleys 
from two or more batteries. 
batter 1 (bat'er), n. [< batter 1 , .] 1. A heavy 
blow. 2. In printing, a blur or defect in a 
sheet produced by battered type ; a spot show- 
ing the broken state of the type. 3. In ceram., 
a mallet used to flatten out wet clay before 
molding. See batting-block. 
batter 2 (bat'er), v. i. [Origin unknown; per- 
haps connected in some way with batter 1 , or 
with F. abattre, beat down.] To incline from 
the perpendicular: said of a wall whose face 
recedes as it rises : opposed to overhang. 
Retaining and breast walls Imttrr towards the bank. 
E. a. Knight, Amer. Mech. Diet., I. 247. 
