battle
/ˈbætl̩/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms battles battling battled batail battel battell battil battill baittle bettle batwell
- noun A contest, a struggle. “the battle of life”
- noun A one-on-one competition in rapping or breakdance.
- noun (military) A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; a combat, an engagement.
- noun (military, now rare) A division of an army; a battalion.
- noun (military, obsolete) The main body of an army, as distinct from the vanguard and rear; the battalia.
- verb (intransitive) To join in battle; to contend in fight “Scientists always battle over theories.”
- verb (transitive) To fight or struggle; to enter into a battle with. “She has been battling cancer for years.”
- adjective Of grass or pasture: nutritious to cattle or sheep; fattening, nourishing. “battle grass battle pasture”
- adjective (by extension) Of land (originally pastureland) or soil: fertile, fruitful. “battle land battle soil”
- verb To feed or nourish (someone or something).
- verb To render (land, soil, etc.) fertile or fruitful.
- proper noun A habitational surname from Middle English from places in England that have been sites of a battle.
- proper noun A town and civil parish with a town council in Rother district, East Sussex, England; supposed site of the Battle of Hastings (OS grid ref TQ7416).
- proper noun A hamlet in Yscir community, Powys, Wales (OS grid ref SO0131).
- proper noun A river in Saskatchewan, Canada: see Battle River.
- proper noun (historical) A ghost town in Carbon County, Wyoming, United States.
Synonyms
field batten improving conflict fight engagement struggle combat
Etymology
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 or Proto-Germanic root from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to stab, dig”), related to Old English beado (“battle”); 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.
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).
Capitalization of battle. Doublet of Battaglia.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Fertile. See Battel, a. [Obs.]
- noun A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; an engagement; a combat.
- noun A struggle; a contest; as, the battle of life.
- verb To join in battle; to contend in fight; as, to battle over theories.
Etymology [OE. bataille, bataile, F. bataille battle, OF., battle, battalion, fr. L. battalia, battualia, the fighting and fencing exercises of soldiers and gladiators, fr. batuere to strike, beat. Cf. Battalia, 1st Battel, and see Batter, v. t.]
Etymology [F. batailler, fr. bataille. See Battle, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “battle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details