In ballet, "battement" is a generic term for a movement in which one leg is extended and then brought back. Used by itself, in the lessons I took the term meant raising the leg straight out in front of you, to one side, or in back of you at a right angle to the leg you were standing on (also known as a grand battement, "big beat") while, say , a "battement tendu" was just referred to as a tendu and a "battement frappé" was just a frappé.