Word.ws English Dictionary

battue

Syllables: bat·tue/bəˈt(j)uː/US/bæˈtu/

battue noun: a form of hunting in which game is forced into the open by the beating of sticks on bushes, etc.

Noun

battue (countable and uncountable, plural battues)

  1. (attributive, often, uncountable) A form of hunting in which game is forced into the open by the beating of sticks on bushes, etc.
    • [page 203] In battue, whenever a hen rises, the signal "ware hen!" is called out by the sportsman or beater who is nearest it: meaning thereby "beware of the hen;" or, literally, "do not shoot the hen pheasant." In most places where game is very strictly preserved, and the rules of sporting firmly...1863, “Marksman” [pseudonym], “Finishing Lessons”, in The Dead Shot; or, Sportsman’s Complete Guide: […], New York, N.Y.: W. A. Townsend, publisher, →OCLC, pages 203 and 204
    • In the southern territories of Tuva saiga antelopes were hunted successfully by the battue method, using horse as chasers, and log pens constructed before the hunt. Several dozen animals could be caught in one hunt by this method.1980, Sevyan Vainshtein, “Appropriative Economic Forms among the Tuvinian Nomads in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries”, in Michael Colenso, transl., edited by Caroline Humphrey, Nomads of...
  2. (countable) A hunt performed in this manner.
    • The battues have nothing whatever to do with the poaching, and once sufficiently grand battue would put an end to poaching altogether, by destroying all the game. The evil of which the chancellor should have spoken, is the excessive game preserving which allows of battues, or great massacres. The...1827 May 1, “Diary for the Month of April”, in The London Magazine, volume VIII (New Series), London: Published by Hunt and Clarke, […], →OCLC, page 66
    • What, in your comprehension, is a battue?—As far as I understand a battue, it is where the woods are beaten; where the game is beaten out by men instead of dogs.1845 April 21, Sir Harry Verney (witness), “Minutes of Evidence Taken before the Select Committee on the Game Laws”, in Report from the Select Committee on the Game Laws, part I (Session 1845)...

battue meaning in Tamil

battue in Tamil

பெருவாரியான அழிவு வேட்டை, படுகொலை

Examples of battue in a sentence

  • Traditionalists took exception to the extensive slaughter that the grand battue hunt might involve and railed against the introduction of this 'abominable Gallic System'.2007, Emma Griffin, “A New Era Dawns”, in Blood Sport: Hunting in Britain since 1066, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press...
  • The battues have nothing whatever to do with the poaching, and once sufficiently grand battue would put an end to poaching altogether, by destroying all the game.1827 May 1, “Diary for the Month of April”, in The London Magazine, volume VIII (New Series), London: Published by Hunt and Clarke, […]...
  • [T]he Duke having duly conned over the eligible parties to ask, it was finally arranged that a Battue should inaugurate the Prince's visit.1860, [Robert Smith Surtees], “Shooting and Slaughtering”, in “Plain or Ringlets?”, London: Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 193:
  • During the nineteenth century battues for large carnivores were quite frequently narrated as instructive stories about the organization of the hunt.2017, Karin Dirke, “Changing Narratives of Human: Large Carnivore Encounters in Nineteenth-century Sweden”, in Tuomas Räsänen, Taina...

Forms of battue

pluralbattues

Origin of battue

From French battue, ultimately from Latin battere. Doublet of battuta, which arrived via Italian.

Questions about battue

What does battue mean?
Battue means a form of hunting in which game is forced into the open by the beating of sticks on bushes, etc.
What is battue in Tamil?
Battue in Tamil is பெருவாரியான அழிவு வேட்டை, படுகொலை. See Battue meaning in Tamil.
How do you use battue in a sentence?
Traditionalists took exception to the extensive slaughter that the grand battue hunt might involve and railed against the introduction of this 'abominable Gallic System'.
What part of speech is battue?
Battue is a noun.
How do you pronounce battue?
Battue is pronounced /bəˈt(j)uː/ (UK).
What is the plural of battue?
The plural of battue is battues.

Words near battue in the dictionary

  1. Battramsley
  2. battri ting
  3. battri tings
  4. batts
  5. battu
  6. battue
  7. battues
  8. batture
  9. battures
  10. battuta
  11. batty

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: battue (page history and authors); battue (Tamil Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-battue.wav.

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