Dictionary

embattle en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ɪmˈbæt.əl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ɛmˈbæ.təl/ (General-American)
• (US) audio
• (General-American)
• [əmˈbæ.ɾəl] (US, regional)
• /ɛmˈbæt.əl/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English enbatelen, embatailen, from Old French embataillier (“to array for battle”), from em- (Latin in) + bataille (“battle”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To arrange in order of battle; to array for battle.
2. To prepare or arm for battle; to equip as for battle.
   • In behalf of the dignity of whaling, I would fain advance naught but substantiated facts. But after embattling his facts, an advocate who should wholly suppress a not unreasonable surmise, which might tell eloquently upon his cause — such an advocate, would he not be blameworthy ? 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXV, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 124:
3. (intransitive) To be arrayed for battle.

Forms

Deriveds

embattlement · embattled

Synonyms

fortify (to prepare or arm for battle, to equip as for battle)

embattle en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ɪmˈbæt.əl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ɛmˈbæ.təl/ (General-American)
• (US) audio
• (General-American)
• [əmˈbæ.ɾəl] (US, regional)
• /ɛmˈbæt.əl/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English enbatelen, enbatailen, from Old French *embastiller ("to fortify"; > Middle Latin imbataliare, imbattajare), from en- + + bastiller (“to build, fortify, embattle”). More at baste.

Meanings

1. A merlon, or a single one of the series of solid projections of a battlement.
   • Again, it can be drawn with the angle of the limbs being greater or less than a right angle, but they will appear to conflict with the embattles which have to be rectangular. In some ordinaries such as the fess, there must be an odd number of embattles, otherwise it will start high and end low [...] 1996, Anthony Wood, Heraldic Art and Design, page 53:

Forms

embattle en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ɪmˈbæt.əl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ɛmˈbæ.təl/ (General-American)
• (US) audio
• (General-American)
• [əmˈbæ.ɾəl] (US, regional)
• /ɛmˈbæt.əl/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English enbatelen, enbatailen, from Old French *embastiller ("to fortify"; > Middle Latin imbataliare, imbattajare), from en- + + bastiller (“to build, fortify, embattle”). More at baste.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To furnish with battlements; to give the form of battlements to.
   • to embattle a wall

Forms

Deriveds

embattled