batayle

Middle English

Alternative forms

• batel, bataylle, bataille, bataile, bataill, batail, batell, batayll, bateil, baitale

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French bataille, from Late Latin battālia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /batˈæi̯l(ə)/, /ˈbatɛl(ə)/, /ˈbatəl(ə)/

Noun

batayle (plural batayles)

1. An extended fight, war or armed contest; battling or warring.
2. A battle; a match between two rival armed forces.
3. A company or band of soldiers; a portion of one's fighting force.
   • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum x”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book II, [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 [...]

4. A duel or match to decide a dispute.
5. A fight or dispute between ideas or religious forces:
   1. (rare) One's striving to eliminate or expunge malicious forces.
   2. (rare) A strike or blow from malicious forces.

Related terms

• batailloure
• bataylen
• bataylous
• bataylynge

Descendants

• English: battle
• Scots: battle

References

• “batail(le, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-29.
• p. 1, Arthur; A Short Sketch of his Life and History in English Verse of the First Half of the Fifteenth Century, Frederick Furnivall ed. EETS. Trübner & Co.: London. 1864.