| battle | 1. A general action, fight, or encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; an engagement; a combat. 2. A struggle; a contest; as, the battle of life. "The whole intellectual battle that had at its center the best poem of the best poet of that day." (H. Morley) 3. A division of an army; a battalion. "The king divided his army into three battles." (Bacon) "The cavalry, by way of distinction, was called the battle, and on it alone depended the fate of every action." (Robertson) 4. The main body, as distinct from the van and rear; battalia. Battle is used adjectively or as the first part of a self-explaining compound; as, battle brand, a "brand" or sword used in battle; battle cry; battlefield; battle ground; battlearray; battle song. Battle piece, a painting, or a musical composition, representing a battle. Battle royal. A fight between several gamecocks, where the one that stands longest is the victor. Grose. A contest with fists or cudgels in which more than two are engaged; a melee. Thackeray. Drawn battle, one in which neither party gains the victory. To give battle, to attack an enemy. To join battle, to meet the attack; to engage in battle. Pitched battle, one in which the armies are previously drawn up in form, with a regular disposition of the forces. Wager of battle. See Wager. Synonym: Conflict, encounter, contest, action. Battle, Combat, Fight, Engagement. These words agree in denoting a close encounter between contending parties. Fight is a word of less dignity than the others. Except in poetry, it is more naturally applied to the encounter of a few individuals, and more commonly an accidental one; as, a street fight. A combat is a close encounter, whether between few or many, and is usually premeditated. A battle is commonly more general and prolonged. An engagement supposes large numbers on each side, engaged or intermingled in the conflict. Origin: OE. Bataille, bataile, F. Bataille battle, OF, battle, battalion, fr. L. Battalia, battualia, the fighting and fencing exercises of soldiers and gladiators, fr. Batuere to strike, beat. Cf. Battalia, 1st Battel, and see Batter. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| battle fatigue | The World War II name for what is known today as posttraumatic stress, this is a psychological disorder that develops in some individuals who have had major traumatic experiences (and, for example, have been in a serious accident or through a war). The person is typically numb at first but later has symptoms including depression, excessive irritability, guilt (for having survived while others died), recurrent nightmares, flashbacks to the traumatic scene, and overreactions to sudden noises. Posttraumatic stress became known as such in the 70s due to the adjustment problems of some Vietnam veterans. (12 Dec 1998) |
| battle neurosis | A stress condition or mental disorder induced by conditions existing in warfare. See: battle fatigue. Synonym: battle neurosis, military neurosis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| battle's sign | <clinical sign> Postauricular (behind the ear) ecchymosis in cases of fracture of the base of the skull (basal skull fracture). (27 Sep 1997) |
| Abbe operation | Use of an Abbe flap in plastic surgery of the lips. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Arie-Pitanguy operation | A procedure to reduce a large breast by a lozenge-shaped resection of tissue from its inferior pole. Synonym: Arie-Pitanguy mammaplasty. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Arlt's operation | Transplantation of the eyelashes back from the edge of the lid in trichiasis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| arterial switch operation | Operation for complete transposition of the great arteries; the most common way to repair this defect consists of switching the aorta and pulmonary arteries and implanting the coronary arteries into the neoaorta (the original pulmonary artery). (05 Mar 2000) |
| Baldy's operation | An obsolete operation for retrodisplacement of the uterus, consisting of bringing the round ligaments through the perforated broad ligaments and attaching them to each other and to the back of the uterus. Synonym: Webster's operation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Ball's operation | Division of the sensory nerve trunks supplying the anus, for relief of pruritus ani. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Barkan's operation | Goniotomy for congenital glaucoma under direct observation of the anterior chamber angle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Bassini's operation | An operation for an inguinal hernia repair; after reduction of the hernia, the sac is twisted, ligated, and cut off, then a new inguinal canal is made by uniting the edge of the internal oblique muscle to the inguinal ligament, placing on this the cord, and covering the latter by the external oblique muscle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Baudelocque's operation | An incision through the posterior cul-de-sac of the vagina for the removal of the ovum, in extrauterine pregnancy. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Belsey Mark IV operation | A transthoracic anti-reflux procedure; it restores a 3 to 4 cm length of intraabdominal oesophagus, maintains a narrow diameter of the distal oesophagus by a gastric fundoplication. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Billroth's i operation | <procedure, surgery> The excision of the pylorus with end-to-end anastomosis of the stomach and the duodenum. (27 Sep 1997) |