battel

plural battels · alternative batail · alternative battle

1. archaicArchaic spelling of battle.

   1 more example

   Great trauail is created to al men, and an heauie yoke vpon the children of Adam, from the day of their comming forth of their mothers wombe, vntil the day of their burying, into the mother of al. Their cogitations, and feares of the hart, imagination of things to come, and the day of their ending: from him that ſitteth vpon the glorious ſeate, vnto him that is humbled in earth & aſhes. From him that weareth hyacinth, and beareth the crowne, euen to him that is couered with rude linen: furie, enuie, tumult, wauering, and the feare of death, anger perſeuering, and contention, and in time of repoſe in bed, the ſleepe of night changeth his knowledge. A litle is as nothing in reſt, and afterward in ſleepe, as in the day of watch. He is troubled in the viſion of his hart, as he that hath eſcaped in the day of battel. In the time of his ſafetie he roſe vp, and merueleth at no feare: with al fleſh, from man euen to beaſt, and vpon ſinners ſeuenfold. Beſides theſe things, death, bloud, contention, and ſword, oppreſſions, famine, and contrition, and ſcourges: for the wicked al theſe were created, and for them the floud was made. Al things that are of the earth, ſhal turne into the earth, and al waters ſhal returne into the ſea.

   1582 – 1610, Douay Rheims Bible, Book of Ecclesiasticus (Wisdom of Sirach) XL.1–11

2. UKobsoletelawA single combat.

   trial by battel; wager of battel

comparative more battel · superlative most battel

1. obsoletefertile; fruitful; productive

   a battel soil for grain, for pasture good

   1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC

present singular third person battels · US participle present batteling · UK participle present battelling · US participle past batteled · US past batteled · UK participle past battelled · UK past battelled

1. transitiveTo make fertile.
2. ambitransitiveobsoleteOxford UniversityTo supply with provisions from the buttery.

   1 more example

   Troth, and for mine owne part, I am a poore Gentleman, & a Scholler, I haue beene matriculated in the Vniuerſitie, wore out ſixe Gownes there, ſeene ſome fooles, and ſome Schollers, ſome of the Citty, and ſome of the Countrie, kept order, went bare-headed ouer the Quadrangle, eate my Commons with a good ſtomacke, and Battled with Diſcretion; at laſt, hauing done many ſlights and trickes to maintaine my witte in vſe (as my braine would neuer endure mee to bee idle,) I was expeld the Vniuerſitie, onely for ſtealing a Cheeſe out of Ieſus Colledge.

   1607, W. S. [attributed to Thomas Middleton or William Shakespeare (doubtful)], The Pvritaine. Or The VViddovv of Watling-streete. […], imprinted at London: By G[eorge] Eld, →OCLC, Act I

3. intransitiveOxford UniversityTo stand indebted in the college-books for provisions and drink from the buttery.

plural battels

1. UKcountablein pluraluncountableOxford UniversityFees charged by a college for accommodation and living expenses.
2. UKcountablein pluralobsoleteuncountableOxford UniversityProvisions ordered from the kitchen and buttery.
3. UKcountableobsoleteuncountableEton CollegeA small allowance of food collegers receive from their dames (matrons) in addition to their college allowance

present singular third person battels · participle present battelling · participle past battelled · past battelled

1. intransitiveTo waste, especially time.
2. transitiveTo nullify.