Com"bat 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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.