Obs. Forms: 4 batayle, -aile, 5 battaile, 7 battel: see BATTLED ppl. a.2 [a. OF. bataillie-r, -eillie-r (= Pr. batalhar) to furnish with batailles ‘battlements,’ temporary or movable turrets of wood, etc., erected upon walls when besieged; formally the same word as bataille battle, though the sense-development is not clear. Later OF. had also in same sense batillier, bastillier, either a distinct formation on bastille (see BASTILLE), or refashioned after this word, which eventually displaced bataillier, so that mod.F. has only bastiller: in Eng. on the other hand the word followed the phonetic course of battle. See also BATTLEMENT.]
trans. To fortify or furnish with battlements. (Usually in passive: cf. BATTLED ppl. a.2)
c. 1340. Cursor M. (Trin.). 9902. Þis castel … of loue and grace … is … batailed aboute al wiþ sele.
c. 1375. Barbour, Bruce, II. 221. Perth … then wes wallyt all about With feile towris rycht hey battaillyt.
c. 1618. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, III. ii. 110. Ile have it batteld too.
