Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAT'TE-MENT, n. [Fr.]

A beating; striking; impulse. [Not in use.] Darwin, Zoon.

BAT'TEN, n.

A piece of board, or scantling, of a few inches in breadth, used in making doors and windows. It is not as broad as a pannel. Encyc.

BAT'TEN, v.i.

To grow or become fat; to live in luxury, or to grow fat in ease and luxury. Dryden. The pampered monarch battening in ease. Garth.

BAT'TEN, v.t.

To form with battens.

BAT'TEN, v.t. [bat'n; Russ. botiayu. Qu. Ar. بَدَنَ badana, to be fat; or فَدًنَ faddana, to fatten. See Fat.]

1. To fatten; to make fat; to make plump by plenteous feeding. Milton.
2. To fertilize or enrich land. Philips.

BAT'TEN-ED, pp.

1. Formed with battens.
2. Become fat.

BAT'TER, n. [from beat or batter.]

A mixture of several ingredients, as flour, eggs, salt, &c., beaten together with some liquor, used in cookery. King.

BAT'TER, v.i.

To swell, bulge, or stand out, as a timber or side of a wall from its foundation. Moxon.

BAT'TER, v.t. [Fr. battre; Sp. batir; It. battere; L. batuo, to beat. See Beat.]

1. To beat with successive blows; to beat with violence, so as to bruise, shake, or demolish; as, to batter a wall.
2. To wear or impair with beating; as, a battered pavement; a battered jade. Dryden. Pope.
3. To attack with a battering ram.
4. To attack with heavy artillery, for the purpose of making a breach in a wall or rampart.

BAT'TER-ED, pp.

Beaten; bruised; broken; impaired by beating or wearing.

BAT'TER-ER, n.

One who batters or beats.

BAT'TER-ING, ppr.

Beating; dashing against; bruising or demolishing by beating.

BAT'TER-ING-RAM, n.

In antiquity, a military engine used to beat down the walls of besieged places. It was a large beam, with a head of iron somewhat resembling the head of a ram, whence its name. It was suspended by ropes in the middle to a beam which was supported by posts, and balanced so as to swing backward and forward, and was impelled by men against the wall. It was sometimes mounted on wheels.

BAT'TER-Y, n. [Fr. batterie; Sp. bateria; It. batteria. See Beat.]

1. The act of battering or beating.
2. The instrument of battering.
3. In the military art, a parapet thrown up to cover the gunners and others employed about them, from the enemy's shot, with the guns employed. Thus, to erect a battery, is to form the parapet and mount the guns. The term is applied also to a number of guns ranged in order for battering, and to mortars used for a like purpose. Cross batteries are two batteries which play athwart each other, forming an angle upon the object battered. Battery d'enfilade, is one which scours or sweeps the whole line or length. Battery en echarpe, is that which plays obliquely. Battery de revers, is that which plays upon the enemy's back. Camerade battery, is when several guns play at the same time upon one place. Encyc.
4. In law, the unlawful beating of another. The least violence or the touching of another in anger is a battery. Blackstone.
5. In electrical apparatus and experiments, a number of coated jars placed in such a manner, that they may be charged at the same time, and discharged in the same manner. This is called an electrical battery.
6. Galvanic battery, a pile or series of plates of copper and zink, or of any substances susceptible of galvanic action.

BAT'TING, n.

1. The management of a bat at play. Mason.
2. Cotton or wool in masses prepared for quilts or bed-covers.

BAT'TISH, a. [from bat, an animal.]

Resembling a bat; as, a battish humor. Vernon.

BAT'TLE, n. [Fr. bataille; W. batel, a drawing of the bow, a battle; Sp. batalla; It. battaglia, from beating. See Beat. Owen supposes the Welsh batel, to be from tel, tight, stretched, compact, and the word primarily to have expressed the drawing of the bow. This is probably an error. The first battles of men were with clubs, or some weapons used in beating, striking. Hence the club of Hercules. And although the moderns use different weapons, still a battle is some mode of beating or striking.]

1. A fight, or encounter between enemies, or opposing armies; an engagement. It is usually applied to armies or large bodies of men; but in popular language, the word is applied to an encounter between small bodies, between individuals, or inferior animals. It is also more generally applied to the encounters of land forces than of ships, the encounters of the latter being called engagements. But battle is applicable to any combat of enemies.
2. A body of forces, or division of an army. Bacon. The main body, as distinct from the van and rear. [Obs.] Hayward. To give battle, is to attack an enemy; to join battle, is properly to meet the attack; but perhaps this distinction is not always observed. A pitched battle, is one in which the armies are previously drawn up in form, with a regular disposition of the forces. To turn the battle to the gate, is to fight valiantly, and drive the enemy, who hath entered the city, back to the gate. Is. xxviii.

BAT'TLE, v.i. [Fr. batailler; Sp. batallar.]

To join in battle; to contend in fight; sometimes with it; as, to battle it. Addison.

BAT'TLE, v.t.

To cover with armed force. Fairfax.

BAT'TLE-AR-RAY, n. [battle and array.]

Array or order of battle; the disposition of forces preparatory to a battle.

BAT'TLE-AX, n.

An ax anciently used as a weapon of war. It bas been used till of late years by the highlanders in Scotland; and is still used by the city guards in Edinburgh, in quelling mobs, &c. Encyc.

BAT'TLE-DOOR, n. [bat'tl-dore.]

1. An instrument of play, with a handle and a flat board or palm, used to strike a ball or shuttle-cock; a racket. Locke.
2. A child's horn-book. [Not in use in the United States.]

BAT'TLE-MENT, n. [This is said to have been bastillement, from bastille, a fortification, from Fr. bâtir, bastir, to build. Qu.]

A wall raised on a building with openings, or embrasures, or the embrasure itself. Encyc. Johnson.

BAT'TLE-MENT-ED, a.

Secured by battlements. Herbert.

BAT'TLING, n.

Conflict. Thomson.