Category:Combat

Com"bat ( or ; 277), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Combated; p. pr. & vb. n. Combating.] Etym: [F. combattre; pref. com- + battre to beat, fr. L. battuere to strike. See Batter.]

Defn: To struggle or contend, as with an opposing force; to fight. To combat with a blind man I disdain. Milton. After the fall of the republic, the Romans combated only for the choice of masters. Gibbon.

combat Com"bat, v. t.

Defn: To fight with; to oppose by force, argument, etc.; to contend against; to resist. When he the ambitious Norway combated. Shak. And combated in silence all these reasons. Milton. Minds combat minds, repelling and repelled. Goldsmith.

Syn. -- To fight against; resist; oppose; withstand; oppugn; antagonize; repel; resent.

combat Com"bat, n. Etym: [Cf. F. combat.]

1. A fight; a contest of violence; a struggle for supremacy. My courage try by combat, if thou dar'st. Shak. The noble combat that 'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina. Shak.

2. (Mil.)

Defn: An engagement of no great magnitude; or one in which the parties engaged are not armies. Single combat, one in which a single combatant meets a single opponent, as in the case of David and Goliath; also a duel.

Syn. -- A battle; engagement; conflict; contest; contention; struggle; fight, strife. See Battle, Contest.