Word.ws English Dictionary

battel

battel noun: a single combat. Also the archaic spelling of battle.

Noun (1)

battel (plural battels)

  1. (UK, obsolete) A single combat.
    • trial by battel; wager of battel

Adjective

battel (comparative more battel, superlative most battel)

  1. (obsolete) fertile; fruitful; productive
    • a battel soil for grain, for pasture good1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield...

Verb (1)

battel (third-person singular simple present battels, present participle (US) batteling or (UK) battelling, simple past and past participle (US) batteled or (UK) battelled)

  1. (transitive) To make fertile.
  2. (ambitransitive, obsolete, Oxford University) To supply with provisions from the buttery.
    • Troth, and for mine owne part, I am a poore Gentleman, & a Scholler, I haue beene matriculated in the Vniuerſitie, wore out ſixe Gownes there, ſeene ſome fooles, and ſome Schollers, ſome of the Citty, and ſome of the Countrie, kept order, went bare-headed ouer the Quadrangle, eate my Commons with a...1607, W. S. [attributed to Thomas Middleton or William Shakespeare (doubtful)], The Pvritaine. Or The VViddovv of Watling-streete. […], imprinted at London: By G[eorge] Eld, →OCLC, Act I
  3. (intransitive, Oxford University) To stand indebted in the college-books for provisions and drink from the buttery.

Noun (2)

battel (countable and uncountable, plural battels)

  1. (UK, in plural, Oxford University) Fees charged by a college for accommodation and living expenses.
  2. (UK, in plural, obsolete, Oxford University) Provisions ordered from the kitchen and buttery.
  3. (UK, obsolete, Eton College) A small allowance of food collegers receive from their dames (matrons) in addition to their college allowance

Verb (2)

battel (third-person singular simple present battels, present participle battelling, simple past and past participle battelled)

  1. (intransitive) To waste, especially time.
  2. (transitive) To nullify.

Also used as

battel is also the archaic spelling of battle.

Forms of battel

Noun
pluralbattels
alternative formbatail
alternative formbattle
Adjective
comparativemore battel
superlativemost battel
Verb
third-person singular presentbattels
present participle USbatteling
present participle UKbattelling
past participle USbatteled
past USbatteled
past participle UKbattelled
past UKbattelled
present participlebattelling
past participlebattelled
pastbattelled

Origin of battel

From Middle English batel, batayle from Old French bataille, from Late Latin battālia, variant of battuālia (“military exercises”), from Latin battuō (“to strike, hit, beat, fight”), from a Gaulish root, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to stab, dig”). Doublet of battalia and battle.

From Hebrew בטל.

Words formed from battel

Phrases with battel

Questions about battel

What does battel mean?
Battel means a single combat.
What part of speech is battel?
Battel can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
What is the plural of battel?
The plural of battel is battels.

Words near battel in the dictionary

  1. batted one's eyelashes
  2. batted one's eyes
  3. batted out
  4. batted round
  5. batted the breeze
  6. battel
  7. batteled
  8. batteler
  9. battelers
  10. batteling
  11. battelings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: battel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “battel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/battel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.