battle, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

battle n.

1. (US black/Harlem) a very unattractive woman [abbr. battle-axe n.¹].

1942		Morn. Herald (Uniontown, PA) 8 June 4/5: ‘Battle’ is a very homely girl, a crone.
1944		Cab Calloway New Hepsters Dict. in Calloway (1976) 253: battle (n.): a very homely girl, a crone.

2. (US milit.) a close battlefield ‘buddy’.

2012

K. Powers Yellow Birds 60: ‘I had a friend. I have a friend you can pray for [...] Daniel Murphy. My battle. He got killed in Al Tafar’.

3. see battle-cruiser n.²

SE in slang uses

In compounds

battle-axe (n.)

see separate entries.

battle-cruiser (n.)

see separate entry.

battle-hammed (adj.) [SE hams, thighs, which ‘battle’ against each other as one walks]

(US black) misshapen about the hips.

1934		Z.N. Hurston Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1995) 43: You ole battle-hammed, slew-foot, box-ankled nubbin, you!
1942		Z.N. Hurston ‘Story in Harlem Sl.’ in Novels and Stories (1995) 1008: Battle-hammed: badly formed about the hips.

battle-royal (n.) [SE battle-royal, any battle in which a king leads his forces; also f. cockpit jargon, a cockfight in which a number of cocks fight until only one remains alive]

a serious quarrel, an impassioned argument.

1672		J. Howard All Mistaken I i: 1 nurse: Marry your husband is the notedest Cuckold in all our street. 2 nurse: You lye you jade yours is a greater. phili.: His[t]—now for a battail Royal.
1788		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd edn) n.p.: Battle-royal. A battle or bout at cudgels or fisty-cuffs, wherein more than two persons are engaged: perhaps from its resemblance, in that particular, to more serious engagements fought to settle royal disputes.
1823		Chester Chron. 1 Dec. 4/4: Battle Royal. A half-grown cat, more bold, perhaps, than prudent, fastened upon a large rat.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 7: Battle-royal — (Cockpit), several cocks put in the pit together. Men (Irish mostly) enact the same kind of Pell-mell trick at times; ’Tis ever a scandalous proceeding; and often attended with loss of life.
1840		Thackeray Shabby Genteel Story (1853) 99: A battle-royal [...] speedily took place between the two worthy mothers-in-law.
1865		Sketches from Cambridge 137: Our brethren there [in Oxford] seem to be always indulging in battles-royal [F&H].
1890		Cheltenham Chron. 18 Jan. 10/4: A Battle Royal. One of the keepers in Bushey Park has discovered two fine bucks [...] dead [...] The battle that ended so fatally had evidently been a long and stubborn one.
1898		Hull Dly Mail 10 Mar. 4/3: The keeper heard the sounds of a battle royal and [...] found the lions fighting.
1900		Hull Dly Mail 12 July 4/2: A Battle Royal. Next Week’s Great Cricket Contest. Yorkshire v. Lancashire.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Nov. 14/2: An account of a Sydney battle-royal as detailed by one of the defeated [...].
1909		Dundee Eve. Teleg. 23 Sept. 2/5: [headline] Battle Royal Takes Place at Church — Priest Killed.
1913		Day Book (Chicago) 12 June 3/1: The fight between the Boston and Cleveland players [...] resulted in a battle royal.
1923		Aberdeen Jrnl 8 Jan. 7/3: A battle royal was fought at dawn [...] between three Highland bullocks.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl. 5: battle royal. Indiscriminate boxing match of three or more.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 20: It suddenly ended in a battle-royal that raged till the coming of the first sun of the year and half the police-force.
1946		Lancs. Eve. Post 4 Feb. 4/5: The meeting of Barnsley and Bradford [...] should be a battle royal.
1953		Sunderland Dly Echo 27 Aug. 9/4: The final of the [...] knock-out competition [...] looks like being a battle royal.

battle wagon (n.)

1. (US) a warship.

1918		R.D. Paine Fighting Fleets 294: These old battle-wagons sure do roll up mileage in a month.
1926		(con. 1918) J.W. Thomason Fix Bayonets! 172: Minds me of once when I was on a battle-wagon in the China Sea.
1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: battlewagon . . . a battleship or dreadnought.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 191: The battle waggon in the harbour, affectionately known as the Wandering Junkpile.
1984		(con. WW2) T. Jones Heart of Oak [ebook] Yes, they’ve got boys’ messes in the cruisers all right, and in the battlewagons, too, and they go through the hoop, I can tell you.

2. (US tramp) a wagon carrying coal.

1926		N. Klein ‘Hobo Lingo’ in AS I:12 650: Battle wagon—an iron coal car.
1936		Mencken Amer. Lang. (4th edn) 582: In the days before hitch-hiking, hoboes spent a great deal of their time stealing rides on the railroads, and their railroad vocabulary remains rich and racy. [...] a coal-car is a battle-wagon.

3. (US Und.) a police patrol wagon or car [note Liverpool (UK) battle taxi, a police Land Rover].

1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 438: Battle-wagon, (2) The police patrol wagon.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

4. (US) a homosexual man.

1977

(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 32: He had so much vaseline up his asshole [...] every battlewagon in that joint’d been up it, I bet.

5. a large car.

1956

‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 184: They drove down there in Toby’s battle-wagon, which was a large battered shooting-brake.