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A meeting, with hostile purpose; hence, a combat; a battle; as, a bloody encounter. As one for . . . fierce encounters fit. Spenser. To join their dark encounter in mid-air. Milton .

th. Superstition, . . . a creeping and encroaching evil. Hooker. Exclude the encroaching cattle from thy ground. Dryden.

To enter into conflict; to join battle; as, the armies engaged in a general battle.

An action; a fight; a battle. In hot engagement with the Moors. Dryden.

taining to an episode; adventitious. -- Ep`i*so"dic*al*ly, adv. Such a figure as Jacob Brattle, purely episodical though it be, is an excellent English portrait. H. James.

rm, or of avoiding notice; deliverance from injury or any evil; flight; as, an escape in battle; a narrow escape; also, the means of escape; as, a fire escape. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm. Ps. lv. 8.

orever famous; to immortalize; as, to eternize one's self, a name, exploits. St. Alban's battle won by famous York, Shall be eternized in all age to come. Shak.

g one thing in return for another which is regarded as an equivalent; as, an exchange of cattle for grain.

oney for food or in charity; to expend time labor, and thought; to expend hay in feeding cattle, oil in a lamp, water in mechanical operations. If my death might make this island happy . . . I would expend it with all willingness. Shak.

modities in the way of commerce; -- the opposite of import; as, to export grain, cotton, cattle, goods, etc.

To become prostrate and dead; to die; especially, to die by violence, as in battle. A thousand shall fall at thy side. Ps. xci. 7. He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell. Byron.

The art of preventing, curing, or mitigating diseases of horses and cattle; the veterinary art.

To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle; as, if grain is too forward in autumn, feed it with sheep. Once in three years feed your mowing lands. Mortimer.

One who fattens cattle for slaughter.

serpent (Trigonocephalus lanceolatus) of Brazil and the West Indies. It is allied to the rattlesnake, but has no rattle.

ans, or parties; deadly hatred; contention satisfied only by bloodshed. Mutual feuds and battles betwixt their several tribes and kindreds. Purchas.

A place where a battle is fought; also, the battle itself. In this glorious and well-foughten field. Shak. What though the field be lost Milton.

To carry on, or wage, as a conflict, or battle; to win or gain by struggle, as one's way; to sustain by fighting, as a cause. He had to fight his way through the world. Macaulay. I have fought a good fight. 2 Tim. iv. 7.

Qualified for war; fit for battle. An host of fighting men. 2 Chron. xxvi. 11.

Conclusive; decisive; as, a final judgment; the battle of Waterloo brought the contest to a final issue.