a. and sb. Also 6–8 -gerant. [The earlier belligerant (cf. F. belligérant) was ad. L. belligerānt-em, pr. pple. of belligerāre to wage war: see BELLIGERATE, -OUS. The current spelling, if due to imitation of L. gerentem, is etymologically erroneous, since the word is not derived from gerĕre; but cf. magnific-ent.]
A. adj.
1. Waging or carrying on regular recognized war; actually engaged in hostilities; formerly also said of warlike engines, and the like.
1577. Dee, Relat. Spir., I. (1659), 171. Four … belligerant Castles, out of the which sounded Trumpets thrice.
1748. Chesterf., Lett., 159 (1792), II. 71 (T.). Open to you the several views of the belligerent and contracting parties.
1765. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II. 408. Religion and reason are so far from being belligerent powers … that they join in alliance.
1775. Johnson, Belligerant, waging war. Dict. [i.e., from some dictionary.]
1846. Prescott, Ferd. & Is., I. iv. 213. A truce of six months between the belligerent parties.
2. fig. or transf. to other hostilities.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb. (1861), 117. He assumed a most belligerent look.
1812. Examiner, 11 May, 290/2. The belligerent journalists … are unanimously for the military.
1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, xlvi. (1884), 458. Costigan called for a ‘waither’ with such a belligerent voice.
3. attrib. from the sb.: Of or pertaining to belligerents.
1865. (13 March) Bright, Canada, Sp. (1876), 68. The acknowledgment of the belligerent rights of the South.
1881. J. Westlake, in Academy, 15 Jan., 41/2. Controversies … concerning the capture of private belligerent property at sea.
B. sb. 1. A nation, party or person waging regular war (recognized by the law of nations).
1811. Hist. Eur., in Ann. Reg., 75/2. The common rules between civilized belligerents.
1839. Hallam, Hist. Lit., II. II. iv. § 86. War itself … even for the advantage of the belligerents, had its rules.
1864. Times, 22 Dec., 6/1. But who ever yet, in the annals of international law, heard of the pretension that a blockade, however efficient, deprived the blockaded Power of its rights as a maritime belligerent?
2. fig. or transf. to other hostile agents.
1839. Dickens, Nich. Nick., ii. A loud shout attracted the attention of even the belligerents [i.e., policemen].
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xviii. Out of Parliament … the belligerents were by no means scrupulous about the means which they employed.
