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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.

Such as can be, or is liable to be, combated; as, combatable foes, evils, or arguments.

One who engages in combat. "The mighty combatants." Milton. A controversy which long survived the original combatants. Macaulay

One who combats. Sherwood.

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The quality of being combative; propensity to contend or to quarrel.

In the position of fighting; -- said of two lions set face to face, each rampant.

Out of the combat; disabled from fighting.

Combat. [Obs.] Daniel.

Any person connected with an army, or within the lines of an army, who does not make it his business to fight, as any one of the medical officers and their assistants, chaplains, and others; also, any of the citizens of a place occupied by an army; also, any one holding a similar position with respect to the navy.…

to violent contests, bodily or mental; pertaining to athletic or polemic feats; athletic; combative; hence, strained; unnatural. As a scholar, he [Dr. Parr] was brilliant, but he consumed his power in agonistic displays. De Quincey.

The science of athletic combats, or contests in public games.

That system of medical practice which aims to combat disease by the use of remedies which produce effects different from those produced by the special disease treated; -- a term invented by Hahnemann to designate the ordinary practice, as opposed to homeopathy.

One who contends with another, especially in combat; an adversary; an opponent. Antagonist of Heaven's Almigthy King. Milton. Our antagonists in these controversies. Hooker.

Opposing in combat, combating; contending or acting against; as, antagonistic forces. -- An*tag`o*nis"tic*al*ly, adv. They were distinct, adverse, even antagonistic. Milman.

l or half ball at each end; -- formerly used for destroying the masts or rigging in naval combat. -- Bar sinister (Her.), a term popularly but erroneously used for baton, a mark of illegitimacy. See Baton. -- Bar tracery (Arch.), ornamental stonework resembling bars of iron twisted into the forms required. -- Blank…

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

A single combat; as, trial by battel. See Wager of battel, under Wager.

encounter, in which all the divisions of an army are or may be engaged; an engagement; a combat.

igorous act. "They lose a province at a blow." Dryden. -- To come to blows, to engage in combat; to fight; -- said of individuals, armies, and nations.