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The use of the bow and arrows in battle, hunting, etc.; the art, practice, or skill of shooting with a bow and arrows.

Powerful in arms; mighty in battle. The temple stood of Mars armipotent. Dryden.

Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle.

box and belt; frequently, the musket and bayonet alone. -- To arms! a summons to war or battle. -- Under arms, armed and equipped and in readiness for battle, or for a military parade. Arm's end, Arm's length, Arm's reach. See under Arm.

or parts) in the manner intended, or best suited for the purpose; as, troops arranged for battle. So [they] came to the market place, and there he arranged his men in the streets. Berners. [They] were beginning to arrange their hampers. Boswell. A mechanism previously arranged. Paley.

Order; a regular and imposing arrangement; disposition in regular lines; hence, order of battle; as, drawn up in battle array. Wedged together in the closest array. Gibbon.

Having a keen appetite or desire; eager; longing. "Athirst for battle." Cowper.

flag attached to a spear or pike by a crosspiece, and used by a chief as his standard in battle. Hang out our banners on the outward walls. Shak.

Lit., May you live ten thousand years; -- used in salutation of the emperor and as a battle cry. [Japan]

Embattled. [Obs.] Chaucer.

The battle between the frogs and mice; -- a Greek parody on the Iliad, of uncertain authorship.

Prepared for battle; combatant; warlike. Spenser. -- n.

Arrayed for battle; fit or eager for battle; warlike. [Obs.] "In battailous aspect." Milton.

Order of battle; disposition or arrangement of troops (brigades, regiments, battalions, etc.), or of a naval force, for action. A drawing up the armies in battalia. Jer. Taylor.

A body of troops; esp. a body of troops or an army in battle array. "The whole battalion views." Milton.

To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish or conquer; to surpass. He beat them in a bloody battle. Prescott. For loveliness, it would be hard to beat that. M. Arnold.

the fore part; in front, or in the direction of the front; -- opposed to in the rear. The battle was before and behind. 2 Chron. xiii. 14.

tened; make white. Let their bleached bones, and blood's unbleaching stain, Long mark the battlefield with hideous awe. Byron.

nvolving, bloodshed; sanguinary; esp., marked by great slaughter or cruelty; as, a bloody battle.

owels of the earth. His soldiers . . . cried out amain, And rushed into the bowels of the battle. Shak.