King James Bible Dictionary

Shouting in
Judges 7:20; 1 Samuel 17:20

Priests in
2 Chronicles 13:12

Prayer before:

By Asa
2 Chronicles 14:11

By Jehoshaphat
2 Chronicles 20:3-12
Armies; War

BAT'TLE, noun [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.

The main body, as distinct from the van and rear.

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. Isaiah 28:6.

BAT'TLE, verb intransitive To join in battle; to contend in fight; sometimes with it; as, to battle it.

BAT'TLE, verb transitive To cover with armed force.

BATTLE-ARRA'Y, noun [battle and array.] Array or order of battle; the disposition of forces preparatory to a battle.

Jeremiah 51:20

BAT'TLE-AX

BAT'TLE-AXE, noun An ax anciently used as a weapon of war. It has been used till of late years by the highlanders in Scotland; and is still used by the city guards in Edinburg, in quelling mobs, etc.

A mallet or heavy war-club. Applied metaphorically (Jeremiah 51:20) to Cyrus, God's instrument in destroying Babylon.

(Jeremiah 51:20) [MAUL]

The war-bow used in fighting (Zechariah 9:10; 10:4). "Thy bow was made quite naked" (Habakkuk 3:9) means that it was made ready for use. By David's order (2 Samuel 1:18) the young men were taught the use, or rather the song of the bow. (See ARMOUR, BOW.)

BAT'TLE-DOOR, noun bat'tl-dore. An instrument of play, with a handle and a flat board or palm, used to strike a ball or shuttle-cock; a racket.

1. A child's horn book. [Not in use in U.S.]

A parapet wall or balustrade surrounding the flat roofs of the houses, required to be built by a special law (Deuteronomy 22:8). In Jeremiah 5:10, it denotes the parapet of a city wall.

Among the Jews a battlement was required by law to be built upon every house. It consisted of a low wall built around the roofs of the houses to prevent persons from falling off, and sometimes serving as a partition from another building. (22:8; Jeremiah 5:10)

BAT'TLEMENT, noun [This is said to have been bastillement, from bastille, a fortification.]

A wall raised on a building with openings or embrasures, or the

embrasure itself.

BAT'TLEMENTED, adjective Secured by battlements.

On roofs of houses
Deuteronomy 22:8

On walls
Jeremiah 5:10

BAT'TLER, noun A student at Oxford.