also 4–6 bater(e. [f. the stem bat- ‘beat,’ as in OF. bat-re, Eng. BAT v., BAR sb.2, with freq. suffix -ER. cf. stutter, patter.]
I. Main senses.
1. trans. (and absol.) To strike with repeated blows of an instrument or weapon, or with frequent missiles; to beat continuously and violently so as to bruise or shatter. (Also with complemental about, down, in.)
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1416. Symbales & sonetez sware the noyse & bougounz busch batered so þikke.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. III. 198. I batered hem on þe bakke.
1591. Garrard, Art Warre, 204. The drums ought to be ready to batter their caisses.
1610. Shaks., Temp., III. ii. 98. Or with a logge Batter his skull.
1641. Wilkins, Math. Mag., I. xvii. (1648), 122. These would he presently batter in pieces with great stones.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, IV. xii. 341. Battering the warriors’ faces into mummy.
1801. W. Huntington, Bank of Faith (1805), 135. They had so battered me about, that neither their applause nor their disapprobation had any weight with me.
1873. Burton, Hist. Scot., V. lix. 325. Carrying in a wooden beam, as if to batter in a door.
† b. To beat out (metal); ? to inlay. Obs. rare.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 896. Ys scheld þat was wyþ golde y-batrid; & eke wyþ ire y-bounde.
2. Mil. To operate against (walls, fortifications, etc.) with artillery, or in ancient times with the battering-ram, with the purpose (and result) of breaking down or demolishing them; to bombard. Often with down.
1570. Levins, Manip., 77. To batter walles, demoliri muros.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 18. Which would thee Tyrian turrets quite batter a sunder.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 206. The Ramme that batters downe the wall.
1762. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), IV. lx. 498. Having led the army without delay to Wexford, he began to batter the town.
1803. Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., II. 289. I shall be able to begin to batter to-morrow morning.
1876. Green, Short Hist., vii. § 8 (1882), 436. The castles which had hitherto sheltered rebellion were battered into ruins.
3. transf. and fig. To subject (persons, opinions, etc.) to heavy, crushing or persistent attack.
1578. Fenton, Guicciard. (1618), 30. So that the Florentines by this meanes should remaine battered.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 178. The Tyrant ha’s not batter’d at their peace?
a. 1631. Donne, Holy Sonn., xiv. Batter my heart, three-person’d God.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, II. I. 107. Every Fryer … battering the ears of their Protectors, with informations of their Rogueries.
a. 1733. North, Exam., I. ii. ¶ 174. But none batter’d it more than the Earl of Shaftsbury, who said it was absolutely impossible to be true.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 1177. What foe would dare approach? Historic Doubt? Ay, were there some half-knowledge to attack! Batter doubt’s best, sheer ignorance will beat.
4. To bruise, beat out of shape, or indent by blows or rough usage; in Printing, to deface the surface of type.
1697. Evelyn, Numism., i. 8. Type and Form of one single Stamp … being greatly batter’d and impaired.
1840. Hood, Up the Rhine, 44. The beautiful brass pail … look how it’s all bruised and battered!
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xvi. 169. Boats … well battered by exposure to ice and storm.
† 5. intr. a. To become crushed, dinted or defaced with blows. b. To yield to beating, to be malleable. Obs.
1589. Bp. Andrewes, Serm., II. 10. All our cups would batter with the fall.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 8. Iron … if it be too cold … will not batter under the Hammer.
6. Comb., with attrib. sense, as batter-head, the part of the drum beaten.
1704. Athen. Orac., III. 423, in Southey, Comm.-Pl. Bk., Ser. II. (1849), 657. They [the drums] received several small shot in the batter heads.
II. (From BATTER sb.1)
† 7. trans. To beat into a paste or batter, to mix by beating. Obs.
1585. Lloyd, Treas. Health, I vj. Masticke baterid with whyte of an egge and vineger.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 334. With a fewe egges battered together, and seasoned with a little pepper.
† 8. Sc. To paste, to fix (as with paste); to cover with things stuck on. Obs.
1624. A. H., Paper-Persec., in J. Davies, Papers Compl., Wks. 1876–8, II. 81. To behold the wals Batter’d with weekely Newes.
1650. Row, Hist. Kirk (1842), 72. Who mutilated and did ryue out many leaues of the Register, and did batter others together.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, Jrnl. (1884), 86. This church is battered as full of escutchions as the wall can hold. Ibid., 105. A certain sort of mutch they wear … close battered to their faces.
