battle

English Online Dictionary. What means battle‎? What does battle mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbætəl/, [ˈbatʰɫ̩]
• (US) enPR: băt'l, IPA^(key): /ˈbætl̩/, [ˈbæɾɫ̩], [bætɫ̩]
• Rhymes: -ætəl
• Hyphenation: bat‧tle

Etymology 1

From Middle English batel, batell, batelle, batayle, bataylle, borrowed from Old French bataille, from Late Latin battālia, variant of battuālia (“fighting and fencing exercises”) from Latin battuō (“to strike, hit, beat, fight”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from a Gaulish root from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to stab, dig”), or possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to hit, strike, beat”). Doublet of battalia and battel. Displaced native Old English ġefeoht, beado, camp, and wīg (“battle”), among others.

Alternative forms

• batail, battel, battell (14th–17th centuries)

Noun

battle (plural battles)

1. A contest, a struggle.
2. (military) A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; a combat, an engagement.
3. (military, now rare) A division of an army; a battalion.
4. (military, obsolete) The main body of an army, as distinct from the vanguard and rear; the battalia.
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The church-history of Britain from the birth of Jesus Christ until the year M.DC.XLVIII, Book VIII, Century XVI, Section I, §36:

     hovering aloofe in the fields he suffered Wyat his Van and main Battell (cutting off some of the Reare) to march undisturbed save with one shot, from Knights-Bridge to Charing Chrosse.
5. (military, clipping of) battle buddy

Derived terms

Related terms

• battlement

Translations

Verb

battle (third-person singular simple present battles, present participle battling, simple past and past participle battled)

1. (intransitive) To join in battle; to contend in fight

   Scientists always battle over theories.

   She has been battling against cancer for years.
2. (transitive) To fight or struggle; to enter into a battle with.

   She has been battling cancer for years.

Derived terms

• battle it out

Related terms

• embattle

Translations

Etymology 2

From Early Modern English batell, probably from Middle English *batel (“flourishing”), from Old English *batol (“improving, tending to be good”), from batian (“to get better, improve”) + -ol ( +‎ -le).

Alternative forms

• battil, battill, battel, baittle, bettle, batwell

Adjective

battle (comparative more battle, superlative most battle) (obsolete except British, dialectal, chiefly Northern England, Scotland, agriculture)

1. Of grass or pasture: nutritious to cattle or sheep; fattening, nourishing.

   Synonyms: (obsolete) batten, improving

2. (by extension) Of land (originally pastureland) or soil: fertile, fruitful.

   Synonym: (obsolete) batten

Derived terms

• overbattle

Verb

battle (third-person singular simple present battles, present participle battling, simple past and past participle battled) (transitive, UK dialectal, chiefly Northern England, Scotland)

1. To feed or nourish (someone or something).
2. To render (land, soil, etc.) fertile or fruitful.

Related terms

• batful
• batten

Further reading

• “battle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “battle”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “battle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• batlet, battel, tablet