battle royal

See also: battle-royal

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Preserves the French pattern of adjective after noun. Royal here means “grand in scale”.[1][2]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˌbætl̩ ɹɔɪˈæl/

Noun

battle royal (plural battles royal or battle royals)

  1. A fight involving three or more individuals, teams, or factions; fought until one person, team, or faction is left standing.
    • 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 17:
      I was told that since I was to be there anyway I might as well take part in the battle royal to be fought by some of my schoolmates as part of the entertainment.
  2. A heated discussion or debate.

References
  1. “battle royal”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
  2. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “royal (adj.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.