| 释义 |
▪ I. battalion|bəˈtælɪən|
Forms: 6 bataillon, 6–7 battailon, -aillion, 7 -allion, -alian 7– battalion.
[a. F. battaillon, 16th c. ad. It. battaglione, augm. or dim. of battaglia battle; cf. Sp. batallon ‘a pettie battell or army.’ (Cf. battalia.)]
1. gen.
a. A large body of men in battle array; one of the large divisions of an army.
1589P. Ive Du Bellay's Instr. Warres 73, I will goe range the ten bands in one whole Batailon. 1598Barret Theor. Warres iii. i. 33 Deuiding them [Companies] into so many parts or battaillions. 1652C. Stapylton Herodian xvii. 146 His Army..he divideth into three Battalians. 1658S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. iii. iii. §31 (1670) 373 The distribution of the Troops, into Battalions, Regiments, Ensigns. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece iii. vi. (1715) 61 The Roman Battalions..were still call'd Legiones. 1868Kirk Chas. Bold III. v. ii. 377 The army was broken up into eight battalions and a reserve.
†b. The main body of an army. (= battle 9.)
[1628Wither Brit. Rememb. i. 403 The maine Battalion was both rang'd and led By that slye Prince.] 1653Holcroft Procopius i. 14 Compast by the Enemy..who staid it not, but gallopt home to the Batallion. 1656Blount Glossogr., Battalion, the main battle.
c. In, or with allusion to, the saying: God (or Providence) is on the side of the big battalions.
[1702E. Boursault Lettres Nouvelles 356 La Reine-Mere dit un jour au Maréchal de la Ferté..les Ennemis sont plus forts que nous..mais nous avons le bon droit pour nous... Madame, lui répondit-il, ne vous y fiez pas: j'ay toûjours vû Dieu du coté des gros Bataillons.] 1842[see providence n. 4 a]. 1862T. Hughes Struggle Kansas 363 ‘Providence is on the side of the strongest battalions’ is a saying..much believed in here. 1914G. B. Shaw in New Statesman 14 Nov. Suppl., A Militarist is a person who believes that..Providence is on the side of the big battalions. 1944Blunden Shells by Stream 37 Four hundred thousand men there lay, The Big Battalions blessed the day.
2. spec. A body of infantry (or engineers) composed of several companies, and forming part of a regiment. (The number of battalions in a regiment varies greatly in different countries, and even in the British Army at the present time.)
1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4467/4 Each regiment is to consist of two Battalions, and each Battalion of 1000 Men. 1810Wellington in Gurwood Disp. VI. 81 An army composed of divisions, brigades, regiments, and battalions. 1877Field Exerc. Infantry 148 A Battalion in line may advance or retire in fours from the right or left of Companies.
3. transf. and fig. (from 1.)
1603Florio Montaigne ii. xii. (1632) 267 [The Tunnyfish] alwaies frame their shole of a cubike figure..a solide, close and welranged battailon.
▪ II. baˈttalion, v. rare.
[f. prec. n.]
To form into a battalion.
1865Daily Tel. 18 Apr. 2 The fine body of volunteers..with whom are battalioned one or two companies raised in the..London Docks. |