battle 
"Hs ours by craft and by surprise to Rain : 
TIs yours to meet in arms and Imttlr in the plain. Prior. 
2. To struggle; contend; strive for mastery: 
either absolutely or with for, with, or agaiitKt: 
as, to battle with the winds; to /</</<> 
dom, or against adversity; to Ixittli- irith igno- 
rance. 
Who battled fur the TI-III-, tin- .lu.-t. 
Tennyson, In Mi iiiori:iin, Ivi. 
Regret, resolve, awe, and joy, every high human emo- 
tion excepting fear, battled about u. 
K. S. Phelps, Beyond the Gates, p. 94. 
II. trans. If. To embattle; put into battle 
array. 2f. To fight for. 
Whom thel have seyn nlwey batailen and defendeu 
uoodc in. ii. Chaucer, Boethlus, i. prose 4. 
3. To give battle to; fight against; contend 
with; fight. [Bare.] 
Ue can Imttle theologians with weapons drawn from an- 
li'iue sirmories iinknmvn t" themselves. 
' hippie, Ess. and Rev., 1. 15. 
battle 2 t (bat'l), v. t. ; pret. and pp. battled, ppr. 
battling. [Early mod. E. also battel ; < ME. 
hii/iii/lf-ii, bittailen, < OF. bataillier, bateillier (= 
Pr. batalhar), fortify with battlements, < ba- 
taille, battlement, appar. identical with bataille, 
battle ; but in later OF. the verb was merged 
in batillicr, bastillier, < bastille, a fortress: see 
hostile, battle 1 , and battlement, and cf. embattle 1 , 
embattle 2 .] To furnish or strengthen with bat- 
tlements; embattle. 
l.c^t any tyiue it were a>sayi'd, 
Knl wel aboute it was batayled. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 4161. 
battle 3 (bat'l), a. [Appears first in the 16th 
century, in Scotch and North. E., also written 
battel, battil, battill, baittle, bettle, batwellj etc. ; 
in form < "bat, a verbal root appearing in the 
verb batten 1 , improve, etc., + -el, -le, an adj. 
formative suffixed to verbal roots, as in brittle, 
lid.-le, etc. : see batten*, and cf. the later adjec- 
tives battable and hatful, appar. modifications 
of battle 3 .'] In agri.: (a) Improving; nutri- 
tious; fattening: as, battfe grass; battle pas- 
ture. (6) Fertile; fruitful: as, torn Mil: battle 
land. [Now only North. Eng. and Scotch.] 
A baud soil for grain, for pasture good. Fairfax. 
battled (bat'l), v. [So. and North. E., also 
written battel, battil, etc., from the adj. Cf. 
batten 1 , P.] I. trans. 1. To nourish; feed. 2. 
To render fertile or fruitful, as the soil. 
Ashes are marvellous improvements to battel barren 
laud. Say'* Proverbs. 
II. intrans. 1. To grow fat; thrive. 
Sleepe, they sayd, would make her battill better. 
Spenser, F. Q., VI. viii. 3. 
2. To become fertile or fruitful, as soil. 
battle 4 t, . and v. See battel*. 
battle 5 (bat'l), v. t. [Freq. of baft (f. batter*), 
or perhaps a var. of 
beetle 1 , v., simulating 
baft, v. (ef. baft, .), 
or perhaps from bat- 
tledore, 1, q. v.] To 
beat (clothes) with a 
battler or beetle in 
washing. 
battle-ax (bat'l- 
aks), a. An ax used 
as a weapon of war. 
It was in almost universal 
use before the introduc- 
tion of firearms, and is 
still employed among un- 
civilized peoples. In her- 
aldry it is always repre- 
sented with a blade on one 
(usually the dexter) side 
and a point on the other, 
the Staff terminating in a Persian Battle-ax, i8th century. 
spear-head. 
battle-bolt (bat'1-bolt), n. A bolt or missile 
of any kind used in battle. 
The rushing battle-bolt sang from the three-decker. 
Tennyson, Maud, i. IS. 
battle-brand (bat'l-brand), . A sword used 
in battle. 
Thy father's battle-brand. Scott, L. of the L., ii. 15. 
battle-club (bat'1-klub), n. A club used in 
battle, especially by barbarians, as the South 
Sea islanders. 
The cursed Malayan crease, and battle-clubs 
From the isles of palm. 
Tennyson, Prol. to Princess. 
479 
battled 1 (bat'ld), p. a. 1. Ranged in battle 
array: disposed in order of battle. 2. Con- 
tested; fought. 
Soldier, rest ! thy warfare o'er, 
Dream of battled fields no more. 
Scott, L. of theL.,i. 81. 
battled 2 (bat'ld), a. 1. Furnished or strength- 
ened with battlements. 
Batailled as it were a casU'l wal. 
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 40. 
The battled tower. Tennyson, Fair Women. 
2. In her., broken in the form of battlement s : 
said (n) of any horizontal line dividing the 
field; (6) of a bar or fesse, when one side only 
is broken in this way. Also embattled. See 
cut under embattled Battled arrondl, in her., hav- 
ing the heads of the battlements curved or rounded. - 
Battled counter, in /(*/., same as comit>-r->-iniiu'tl--'l. 
Battled embattled, in her., doubly battled, or battled 
in sU-jis. Also called <jra<i;i and battled ffrady. 
battledore, battledoor (bat'1-dor), n. [< ME. 
batyldore, -doure, -dure; appar. a modification 
(simulating "battle, as if dim. of baft ; cf . battle^) 
of Pr. bateaor (= Sp. batidor, a beater, formerly 
also batador, a bat for beating clothes Min- 
slieu), < batre = Sp. batir, beat: see batter*. 
For the term., cf. xtevedore. Cf. E. dial, battle- 
ton, in sense 1.] 1. A bat or beetle used in 
washing clothes, or for smoothing them out 
while being laundered. 2. An instrument 
shaped like a racket, but smaller, used in 
playing the game of battledore and shuttle- 
cock. 3f. A paddle for a canoe. 4. In glass- 
nmking, a flat square piece of polished iron with 
a wooden handle, used for flattening the bot- 
toms of tumblers, or for similar purposes. 
5. A kind of paddle with a long handle, used 
for placing loaves in a baker's oven. 6f. A 
kind of horn-book : so called from its shape. 
Battledore-boy t, an abecedarian. Battledore-bar- 
ley, a species of cultivated barley, Hordeum zeocriton, with 
short, broad ears. Also called sprat-barley. A'. E. D. 
battle-field (bat'1-feld), n. The scene of a 
battle. 
Oh 1 who would light and march and countermarch, 
Be shot for sixpence in a battle-field I 
Tennyson, Audley Court. 
battle-flag (bat'1-flag), n. A military flag; a 
flag carried in battle. 
Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle- faiji 
were furl'd. Tennyson, Locksley Hall. 
battle-ground (bat'l-ground), n. A battle-field. 
battle-lantern (bat'l-lan"tern), n. A lantern 
placed at each gun on the gun-deck of a ship of 
war, to light up the deck during an engagement 
at night. 
battle-mace (bat'1-mas), n. A mace designed 
for use in war; specifically, a name given to the 
spiked heads for clubs, usually of bronze, which 
are found among ancient remains in the British 
islands and elsewhere. 
battlement (bat'1-ment), n. [< ME. batelment, 
bati/lment, of uncertain origin ; perhaps due to 
an unrecorded OF. "bastillement, < bastilter, 
fortify: see hostile and bastiment. The word 
was popularly associated with battle* ; hence 
ME. bataylynge, battlement, and battle*, q. v.] 
1. In fort., an indented parapet, formed by a 
series of rising A A A 
Sal 
members called 
cops or mer- 
battle-cry (bat'1-kri), n. 
troops engaged in battle. 
A cry or shout of 
It was evident that their battle-cry was conquer or die. 
Thoreaw, Walden, p. 247 
lons, separated 
by openings 
called crenelles 
or embrasures, 
the soldier shel- 
tering himself 
behind the mer- 
lon while he 
fires through 
the embrasure 
or through a 
loophole in the Battlement-Fortified Church of Royat, 
merlon. Battle- P U y-de-D6n,e, France. 
ments although ^^^"K ^^^"''^ 
originally purely Viollet-le-Duc's " Diet, de ['Architecture." ) 
military, and used 
from the earliest times in Egypt, Assyria, and Greece, 
were also employed freely, generally in reduced size, dur- 
ing the middle ages, especially in England, upon ecclesi- 
astical and civil buildings by way of mere ornament, on 
I'oili parapets and cornices, and on tabernacle-work, tran- 
soms of windows, etc. 
Hence 2. Any high wall for defense. 
This was the valley of the pools of Gihon, where Solo- 
mon was crowned, and the battlements which rose above 
it were the long looked -for walls of Jerusalem. 
R. Curzon, Monast. in the Levant, p. 144. 
battlemented (bat'1-men-ted), a. Furnished 
with battlements, as th'e ramparts of a city or 
castle. 
battue 
The w:ilN of Babylon, ... so broad that six chariots 
rou]. I \\vii drive together at the top, and so battlemented 
that they could not fall. Sir T. Herbert, Travels, p. 228. 
Tin' old lutttlfiiifiited walls of the city. 
//"O"''< .I/,|./., l.\ 
battle-piece (bat'1-pes), n. A painting which 
IT presents a battle. 
Looking at Crimean batili--i'i''f*, in which French sol- 
diers are shown to have achieved everything, we see ex- 
emplified a national sentiment. 
//. >'/';</, study of SocioL, p. 214. 
battler 1 (bat'ler), B. [< battle* + -cr*; appar. 
not descended from ME. batelur (< OF. batail- 
leor), liatailler, < OF. bataillier.'] One who bat- 
tles or flghts; a warrior or contender. 
battler 2 ! (bat'ler), n. [< battle* + -cr*.] 1. 
One who beats with a bat or battledore. 2. 
A bat or beetle. 3. See batter*. 
battler't, See battcler. 
battle-scarred (but'l-skiird), a. Scarred with 
wounds received in battle. 
The appeal of a Roman soldier, battli'-xcarred in the ser- 
\ ice of his country, could arouse to vengeance the populace 
of the great undent republic. K. A. Rev., CXXVI. 60. 
battle-shout (bat'l-shout), n. A shout raisod 
in battle, 
battle-song (bat'1-song), . A song sung on 
the battle-field, or relating to battle ; a martial 
song. 
The chivalrous buttle-sony 
That she warbled alone in her joy. 
Tennyson, Maud, x. 4. 
battleton (bat'1-ton), n. [E. dial., appar. a 
var. of battledore. ,] Same as battledore, 1. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
battletwig (bat'1-twig), . [E. dial.] An ear- 
wig. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwett. 
battle-writhen (bat'l-riTH'en), a. [< battle* 
+ writhen, old pp. of writhe.'} Twisted or dis- 
torted by stress of battle. [Poetic.] 
His batth-itrrithen arms and mighty hands. 
Tennymn, Lancelot and Elaine. 
battlingt (bat'ling), a. and n. [Also batteling; 
ppr. and verbal n. of battle 3 , r.] I. a. 1. Nour- 
isning ; fattening. 
The meads environ'd with the silver streams, 
Whose batt'ling pastures fatten all my flocks. 
Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. 
2. Fertile. 
II. n. 1. A growing fat, or the process of 
causing to grow fat; a fattening. 2. That 
which nourishes or fattens, as food, or feed for 
animals, or manure for soil. 
battological (bat-o-loj'i-kal), a. [< battology 
+ -icaL] Given to or of "the nature of bat- 
tology. 
battologist (ba-tol'o-^ist), . [< battology + 
-is?.] One who talk's idly; one who needlessly 
repeats the same thing in speaking or writing. 
A truly dull battologist. 
Whitlack, Manners of Eng. People, p. 209. 
battologize (ba-tol'o-jiz), r. ; pret. and pp. 
battologized, ppr. battologizing. [< battology + 
-ize.~] I. trans. To repeat needlessly ; iterate. 
Sir T. Herbert. 
II. intrans. To repeat words or phrases with 
needless iteration. 
battology (ba-tol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. /JarroXoyi'a, < 
/faTTo/Wj-of, a stammerer, < POTTOS, a stammerer 
(used only as a proper name), + teyetv, speak: 
see -ology.'] Idle talk or babbling; a needless 
repetition of words in speaking. [With refer- 
ence to Mat. vi. 7.] 
That heathenish battoloqy of multiplying words. 
MUlon, Def. of Humb. Eemonst 
Mere surplusage of battology. 
Prynne, Treachery and Disloyalty of Papists, Ii. 67. 
battont, n. An obsolete form of baton and hat- 
teift. 
battoont, n. Same as batoon. 
battoryt (bat'o-ri). n. A factory or warehouse 
established abroad by the Hanse towns. 
battoule-board (ba-tol'bord), n. A spring- 
board used for jumping particularly, in cir- 
cuses, for vaulting over horses, elephants, etc. 
It consists of a few planks fastened at one end to a pole 
supported by two uprights, the other end resting upon a 
floor or other surface. 
battrilt (bat'ril), n. [E. dial. Cf. battler*, bat- 
ler*.] Same as batter*. 
batts (bats), n. pi. Same as batting, 3. 
battue (ba-tu'), n. [F. (= Pr. batuda = It. 
hut i ii i it), prop. fern. pp. of hattre. beat: see 
bate*, hatter*.} 1. A method of hunting in 
which the game is driven from cover by 
beaters toward a point where the sportsmen 
are in wait. 
He has not a word to say against battue shooting, though 
for his own part he greatly prefers shooting over a well- 
trained dog to having the game put up in droves by a ser- 
ried line of beaters. Westminster Rev. , CXXV. 800. 
