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Webster 1913 Edition


Combat

Com′bat

(? or ?; 277)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Combated
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Combating
.]
[F.
combattre
; pref.
com-
+
battre
to beat, fr. L.
battuere
to strike. See
Batter
.]
To struggle or contend, as with an opposing force; to fight.
To
combat
with a blind man I disdain.
Milton.
After the fall of the republic, the Romans
combated
only for the choice of masters.
Gibbon.

Com′bat

,
Verb.
T.
To fight with; to oppose by force, argument, etc.; to contend against; to resist.
When he the ambitious Norway
combated
.
Shakespeare
And
combated
in silence all these reasons.
Milton.
Syn. – To fight against; resist; oppose; withstand; oppugn; antagonize; repel; resent.

Com′bat

,
Noun.
[Cf. F.
combat
.]
1.
A fight; a contest of violence; a struggle for supremacy.
My courage try by
combat
, if thou dar’st.
Shakespeare
The noble
combat
that 'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina.
Shakespeare
2.
(Mil.)
An engagement of no great magnitude; or one in which the parties engaged are not armies.
Syn. – A battle; engagement; conflict; contest; contention; struggle; fight, strife. See
Battle
,
Contest
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Combat

COMBAT

, v.i.
1.
To fight; to struggle or contend with an opposing force.
Pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt.
This word is particularly used to denote private contest, or the fighting of two persons in a duel; but it is used in a general sense for the contention of bodies of men, nations, armies, or any species of animals.
After the fall of the republic, the Romans comabated only for the choice of maters.
2.
To act in opposition.
It is followed by with before the person, and for before the thing sought.
A combats with B for his right.

COMBAT

, v.t.
1.
To fight with; to oppose by force; as, to combat an antagonist.
2.
To contend against; to oppose; to resist; as, to combat arguments or opinions.

COMBAT

, n.
1.
A fighting; a struggling to resist, overthrow or conquer; contest by force; engagement; battle; as the combat of armies.
2.
A duel; a fighting between two men; formerly, a formal trail of a doubtful cause, or decision of a controversy between two persons, by swords or batons.