Forms: 4 bataille, -ale, 4–5 -ail, 5 -aylle, -el(l, -ol, -il, 6 -ayle, battaile, 7– battle. [a. F. bataille-r (12th c. in Littré) to fight, f. bataille BATTLE.]
1. intr. To fight, to engage in war. (Now rare in literal sense, in which fight is usual.)
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 252. In þinkeng of alle þis, þe batailed in þe se.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. iv. 18. Whom þei han seyn alwey batailen and defenden goode men.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, III. 945. These balefull brether batell so longe.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 430/1. This … fader bataylled and foughte ageynst the heretykes.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. v. 74. Whiles Lyons Warre, and battaile for their Dennes.
1704. Rowe, Ulysses, Prol. 8. To seek Renown And Battel for a Harlot at Troy Town.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. viii. To … battle with innumerable wolves.
b. fig. To contend, maintain a (usually defensive) struggle, e.g., with or against pestilence, bigotry, the waves, etc.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), I. vii. 75. To resist and batayle in this present lyfe.
1729. Swift, Libel Delany, Wks. 1755, IV. I. 99. His virtues battling with his place.
1820. Scott, Abbot, viii. A lively brook, which battled with every stone that interrupted its passage.
1876. Green, Short Hist., 713. Walpole battled stubbornly against the cry of war.
c. (with indefinite object) To battle it (lit. and fig.).
1714. Addison, Spect., No. 556, ¶ 9. I was battling it across the Table with a young Templar.
1821. Byron, Sardan., V. i. 60. They battle it beyond the wall.
1885. Browning, Ferishtah’s F., 141. So we battled it like men.
† 2. trans. and refl. To put into battle array, form into battalions, embattle. Obs.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 170. Þan cried Richard on hie, ‘Now batale vs belyue.’
c. 1430. Syr Gener., 7822. Thei batailed hem in ranges fiftene.
3. trans. To give battle to, fight against, assail in battle. Also fig.
c. 1399. Pol. Poems (1859), II. 9. Cristes feith is every dai assailed … and batailed.
1590. Greene, Orl. Fur. (1599), 31. To battaile him that scornes to iniure thee.
1765. Tucker, Lt. Nat., I. 39. The work … of battling the opinions of others.
1852. Dickinson, in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XIII. II. 257. The calves are suffered to battle each other in loose sheds.
4. Phrases.
1794. Southey, Bot. Bay Eclog., ii. Every step that he takes he must battle his way.
1875. B. Taylor, Faust, II. iii. II. 103. Here a lesson grand was battled to the end.
