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ss. Keble. A crowd of eager and curious schoolboys. Hawthorne. Conceit and grief an eager combat fight. Shak.

To meet face to face; to have a meeting; to meet, esp. as enemies; to engage in combat; to fight; as, three armies encountered at Waterloo. I will encounter with Andronicus. Shak. Perception and judgment, employed in the investigation of all truth, have in the first place to encounter with particulars. Tatham.…

Combat; war. [Obs.] He made haste to exploit some warlike service. Holland.

To strive or contened for victory, with armies or in single combat; to attempt to defeat, subdue, or destroy an enemy, either by blows or weapons; to contend in arms; -- followed by with or against. You do fight against your country's foes. Shak. To fight with thee no man of arms will deign. Milton.…

One who fights; a combatant; a warrior. Shak.

f yielding or of suffering; to shrink; to wince; as, one of the parties flinched from the combat. A child, by a constant course of kindness, may be accustomed to bear very rough usage without flinching or complaining. Locke.

Strength or power war; hence, a body of land or naval combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for action; -- an armament; troops; warlike array; -- often in the plural; hence, a body of men prepared for action in other ways; as, the laboring force of a plantation. Is Lucius general of the forces Shak.…

Affray; broil; contest; combat. Who began this bloody fray Shak.

Renewed in vigor, alacrity, or readiness for action; as, fresh for a combat; hence, tending to renew in vigor; rather strong; cool or brisk; as, a fresh wind.

A glove, cap, or the like, cast on the ground as a challenge to combat, and to be taken up by the accepter of the challenge; a challenge; a defiance. "There I throw my gage." Shak.

One who engages in any fierce combat or controversy.

Of or pertaining to gladiators, or to contests or combatants in general.

e, to accept a challenge or adopt a quarrel. -- To throw down the glove, to challenge to combat.

ord made good and true. Shak. Of no power to make his wishes good. Shak. I . . . would by combat make her good. Shak. Convenient numbers to make good the city. Shak. -- To think good, to approve; to be pleased or satisfied with; to consider expedient or proper. If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. Z…

A judge or umpire in games or combats.

To engage in mock combat on horseback, as two knights in the lists; to tilt. [Written also just.] For the whole army to joust and tourney. Holland.

having leaves with a very sharp and hard edge, like a knife. -- War to the knife, mortal combat; a conflict carried to the last extremity.

Of or pertaining to a knight; becoming a knight; chivalrous; as, a knightly combat; a knightly spirit. For knightly jousts and fierce encounters fit. Spenser. [Excuses] full knightly without scorn. Tennyson.

A felling by a knock, as of a combatant, or of an animal.

Using a noose, as a gladiator. [Obs. or R.] Retiary and laqueary combatants. Sir T. Browne.