velitation

plural velitations

1. archaicA fight or skirmish.

   1 more example

   Yet in this your velitation, you bring moſt of your valiant men into the feild, leaving out ſome few caſſhierd ſoldjers; and brave me with a great many of S. Peters prerogatives, which are indeed but a cold yron for the Pope. For though al you ſay for Peter were granted, yet nothing at al is ſayd for the Biſhop of Rome more then for the Biſhop of Babylon. You would hav men think, that if you have ſo many men in a skirmiſh or velitation, you have many moe againſt a day of battel.

   1615, Henry Ainsworth, The Trying Out of the Truth