See Also: battery(dictionary)
Battery(medicine)
Battery(law)
dry battery(dictionary)
battery(dictionary)
Battery(money)
battery(encyclopedia)
assault and battery(dictionary)
Battery Park(dictionary)
assault and battery(encyclopedia)

battery (iou)



battery noun. ME.
[Old French baterie (mod. batterie), from batre: see BATTER verb1, -ERY.]
I.
(Articles of) metal, esp. (of) brass or copper, wrought by hammering. arch. ME.
II. Military uses.
A number of pieces of artillery combining in action; an artillery unit of guns and men and vehicles. LME.
N. Monsarrat The Turks put batteries of their largest cannon..on Tigre Point. A. Eden Marjorie advocated the Royal Horse Artillery..as that battery was already on active service. fig.: Smollett The fellow who accused him has had his own battery turned upon himself.
A succession of heavy blows inflicted on the walls of a city or fortress by means of artillery; a bombardment. M16-M19.
Milton By Batterie, Scale, and Mine, Assaulting.
An emplacement for artillery on land or on a ship. L16.
Wellington The batteries and works erecting at Cadiz. F. Marryat She continued her destructive fire..from the main-deck battery.
III. Physical beating of a person.
The action of assailing with blows; Law the infliction of any menacing touch to the clothes or person. M16.
assault and battery: see ASSAULT noun3.
A mark of beating; a bruise. L16-M17.
Shakespeare Venus & Adonis For where a heart is hard they make no batt'ry.
IV. Uses rel. to or devel. from branch II.
A number of Leyden jars connected together so as to act simultaneously. M18-M19.
A device, consisting of one or more cells, in which chemical energy is converted into electricity. E19.
solar battery: see SOLAR adjective1. recharge one's batteries fig. have a period of rest and recuperation. voltaic battery: see VOLTAIC adjective1.
E. J. Howard The battery was low in the torch and it can't have been very strong to see. J. Barnes We couldn't start the car: the heater had run the battery flat. attrib.: M. McLuhan The Bedouin with his battery radio.
= batterie de cuisine s.v. BATTERIE 2. E19.
Mining. A set of stamps that work in one mortar of a stamp-mill. M19.
A submerged box or boat used in wildfowl shooting. US. M19.
Baseball. The pitcher and catcher (orig. the pitcher alone). M19.
gen. A set of connected similar units of equipment; an extensive series, sequence, or range, (of). L19.
Times Adults were interviewed and asked a battery of questions. A. Toffler Lectures must inevitably give way to a whole battery of teaching techniques. F. Hoyle It would be necessary to use a battery of the largest and fastest computers.
Psychology. A series of tests. E20.
A series of cages etc. in which hens are confined for intensive laying or in which poultry or cattle are reared and fattened. M20.
battery hen, battery system, etc.
V.
Music. The percussion section of an orchestra or band. E20.