battle

1. (military) A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; a combat, an engagement.

2. (military, now rare) A division of an army; a battalion.Examples: "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 […]"; "They ſay, that the King diuided his Armie into three Battailes; whereof the Vant-guard onely well ſtrengthened with wings, came to fight."; "Already Cæſar Has ravaged more than half the Globe, and ſees Mankind grown thin by his deſtructive Sword: Should he go further, Numbers would be wanting To form new Battels, and ſupport his Crimes."archaic

3. (military, obsolete) The main body of an army, as distinct from the vanguard and rear; the battalia.Examples: "Iohn Duke of Norfolke, Thomas Earle of Surrey, Shall haue the leading of the Foot and Horſe. They thus directed, we will fllow ^([sic]) In the maine Battell, whose puiſſance on either ſide Shall be well-winged with our cheefeſt Horſe: This, and Saint George to boote."; "hovering aloofe in the fields he suffered Wyat his Van and main Battell (cutting off some of the Reare) to march undisturbed save with one shot, from Knights-Bridge to Charing Chrosse."; "The artillery, under Waldmann, with whom Herter rode in company, was divided between the vanguard and the “battle,” or main body, which comprised the bulk of the army."obsolete

4. (military) Clipping of battle buddy.abbreviationalt-ofclipping