Combat /(? [or] ?; 277)/

Com·bat

Combat

v. i.

imp. & p. p. Combated; p. pr. & vb. n. Combating

  1. To struggle or contend, as with an opposing force; to fight.
    To combat with a blind man I disdain.
    After the fall of the republic, the Romans combated only for the choice of masters.

Combat

v. t.
  1. To fight with; to oppose by force, argument, etc.; to contend against; to resist.
    When he the ambitious Norway combated.
    And combated in silence all these reasons.
    Minds combat minds, repelling and repelled.

Combat

n.
  1. A fight; a contest of violence; a struggle for supremacy.
    My courage try by combat, if thou dar'st.
    The noble combat that 'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina.
  2. An engagement of no great magnitude; or one in which the parties engaged are not armies. (Mil.)

Phrases & Compounds
Single combat
one in which a single combatant meets a single opponent, as in the case of David and Goliath; also, a duel.