Com"bat , n. [Cf. F. combat.]
1. A fight;
a contest of violence; a struggle for supremacy.
My courage try by combat, if thou dar'st.
Shak.
The noble combat that 'twixt joy and
sorrow was fought in Paulina.
Shak.
2. (Mil.) An engagement of no great magnitude; or one in which
the parties engaged are not armies.
Single combat, one in which
a single combatant meets a single opponent, as in the case of David and Goliath; also, a duel.
Syn. -- A battle; engagement; conflict; contest; contention; struggle; fight, strife. See Battle, Contest.
Com"bat , v. t. To fight with; to oppose by
force, argument, etc.; to contend against; to resist.
When he the ambitious Norway combated.
Shak.
And
combated in silence all these reasons.
Milton.
Minds combat minds, repelling and
repelled.
Goldsmith.
Syn. -- To fight against; resist; oppose; withstand; oppugn; antagonize; repel; resent.
Com"bat (? or ?; 277), v. 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.
Hear it pronounced