• (British) IPA: /ˈbætəl/, [ˈbatʰɫ̩]
• (America) enPR: băt'l, IPA: /ˈbætl̩/, [ˈbæɾɫ̩], [bætɫ̩]

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, of uncertain origin.

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.

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.
   • [1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum x”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book II (in Middle English), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC ↗, leaf 43, verso; republished as H[einrich] 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[illiam] 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.

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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene iii], 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 ^[sic]
     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

• battlement

• French: lutte, bataille
• German: Schlacht, Kampf, Gefecht
• Italian: battaglia
• Portuguese: batalha
• Russian: би́тва
• Spanish: batalla, lucha

• French: lutte
• German: Kampf
• Italian: lotta
• Portuguese: luta
• Russian: борьба́

battle (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.

• embattle

• French: lutter
• German: kämpfen
• Italian: battagliare
• Portuguese: batalhar
• Russian: сража́ться
• Spanish: luchar, batallar

• German: bekämpfen, bekriegen
• Spanish: batallar

From Early Modern English batell, probably from Middle English *batel, from Old English *batol, from batian ("to get better, improve") + -ol ( + -le).

battle (obsolete, except, Britain, dialectal, chiefly, Northern England, Scotland, agriculture)

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

   Synonyms: batten, improving

   battle grass    battle pasture

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

   Synonyms: batten

   battle land    battle soil

battle (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.

• batful
• batten

Capitalization of battle. Doublet of Battaglia.

• (British) IPA: /ˈbætəɫ/

1. Surname from places in England that have been sites of a battle.
2. A place name:
   1. A town/and/cpar with a town council in Rother; supposed site of the Battle of Hastings (OS grid ref TQ7416).
   2. A hamlet in Yscir, Powys (OS grid ref SO0131).
   3. A river in Saskatchewan, Canada
   4. (historical) A former unincorporated community in Carbon County, Washington.