battle

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbætəl/,
• (US) enPR: băt'l, IPA^(key): /ˈbætl̩/, ,

• Audio (US)

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• 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.

   the battle of life

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 9:11:

     I returned, and saw vnder the Sunne, That the race is not to the swift, nor the battell to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of vnderstanding, nor yet fauour to men of skil; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

   • 1884, Henry Morley, “Introduction”, in Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year: , London: George Routledge and Sons, Limd.; New York, N.Y.: E. P. Dutton and Co., →OCLC, page v:

     [T]he whole intellectual battle that had at its centre the best poem of the best poet of that day, and had the English Revolution among issues of the strife, was quickening the energies within young Foe's [i.e., Daniel Defoe's] mind when his age was twenty.

   • 2011 November 3, Chris Bevan, “Rubin Kazan 1 – 0 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport‎, archived from the original on 26 March 2019:

     In truth, Tottenham never really looked like taking all three points and this defeat means they face a battle to reach the knockout stages – with their next home game against PAOK Salonika on 30 November likely to prove decisive.

   • 2012 June 21, “Clive James: ‘I’ve Lost My Battle with Cancer’”, in ITV News‎, archived from the original on 21 June 2012:

     Australian broadcaster Clive James has admitted that he is losing his long-fought battle with leukaemia.

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.
   • by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC, leaf 43, verso; republished as H Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur , London: David Nutt, , 1889, →OCLC, page 86, lines 28–31:

     Thenne kyng Arthur made redy his hooſt in x batails and Nero was redy in the felde afore the caſtel Tarabil with a grete hooſt / & he had x batails with many mo peple than Arthur had [...]

     Then King Arthur made ready his host in 10 battles and Nero was ready in the field before the castle Tarabil with a great host / and he had 10 battles with many more people than Arthur had ]

   • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, , London: W Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC, page 35:

     They ſay, that the King diuided his Armie into three Battailes; whereof the Vant-guard onely well ſtrengthened with wings, came to fight.

   • 1769, William Robertson, “Section II. View of the Progress of Society in Europe, with Respect to the Command of the National Force Requisite in Foreign Operations.”, in The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V. With a View of the Progress of Society in Europe, from the Subversion of the Roman Empire, to the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century. In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Printed by W. and W. Strahan, for W[illiam] Strahan; T Cadell, ; and J. Balfour, , →OCLC, page 87:

     No gentleman would appear in the field but on horſeback. To ſerve in any other manner he would have deemed derogatory to his rank. The cavalry, by way of distinction, was called The battle, and on it alone depended the fate of every action. The infantry, collected from the dregs and refuſe of the people, ill armed and worſe diſciplined; was of no account.

   • 2000 November, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; book 3), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN; Bantam Spectra mass market edition, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Dell, March 2003, →ISBN, page 634:

     Once I link up with Lord Bolton and the Freys, I will have more than twelve thousand men. I mean to divide them into three battles and start up the causeway a half-day apart.

4. (military, obsolete) The main body of an army, as distinct from the vanguard and rear; the battalia.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 203:

     Iohn Duke of Norfolke, Thomas Earle of Surrey,
     Shall haue the leading of the Foot and Horſe.
     They thus directed, we will fllow
     In the maine Battell, whose puiſſance on either ſide
     Shall be well-winged with our cheefeſt Horſe:
     This, and Saint George to boote.

   • 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.

   • 1868, John Foster Kirk, A History of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, volume 3, page 395:

     The artillery, under Waldmann, with whom Herter rode in company, was divided between the vanguard and the “battle,” or main body, which comprised the bulk of the army.

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.

   • 1979 August, Michael Harris, “A line for all reasons: the North Yorkshire Moors Railway”, in Railway World, page 415:

     Hard work is required from men and machines as I was to experience later when footplating Lambton No 5 on five bogies battling its way up Newtondale.

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

   battle grass    battle pasture

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

   Synonym: (obsolete) batten

   battle land    battle soil

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.
   • 1670, J[ohn] R[ay], “Out of Doctour Fullers Worthies of England, such as are Not Entred Already in the Catalogues. [Devonshire.]”, in A Collection of English Proverbs , Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: John Hayes, printer to the University, for W. Morden, →OCLC, page 225:

     To Devonſhire or Denſhire land. That is, to pare off the ſurface or top turf thereof, and to lay it upon heaps and burn it; vvhich aſhes are a marvelous improvement to battle barren land, by reaſon of the fixt ſalt vvhich they contain.

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