LINE OF BATTLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does line of battle mean? 

• LINE OF BATTLE (noun)
  The noun LINE OF BATTLE has 1 sense:

1. a line formed by troops or ships prepared to deliver or receive an attack

  Familiarity information: LINE OF BATTLE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LINE OF BATTLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A line formed by troops or ships prepared to deliver or receive an attack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("line of battle" is a kind of...):

line (a fortified position (especially one marking the most forward position of troops))

Meronyms (parts of "line of battle"):

salient ((military) the part of the line of battle that projects closest to the enemy)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

 Context examples 

He told me, he had for many years been commander of a ship; and in the sea fight at Actium had the good fortune to break through the enemy’s great line of battle, sink three of their capital ships, and take a fourth, which was the sole cause of Antony’s flight, and of the victory that ensued; that the youth standing by him, his only son, was killed in the action.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)