battery English · revision 4659

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1531|origins=la battuere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈbæt.ər.i/, US /ˈbæt̬.ɚ.i/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|batterie|t=a beating; a group of cannon]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from [[fro|baterie|t=beating, assault]], from batre “to beat”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la-lat|battere]], Latin battuere “to beat, strike”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) In Middle English bateri meant only metal goods shaped by hammering.^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) It is related to [[batter]], [[battle]] and [[bat]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The act of beating, in law an unlawful attack on another person: 1531 in the OED and Barnhart,^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) the 1530s in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) MWU gives about 1503.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The army took it for a series of heavy blows on the walls of a fortress (1548), and then for a group of artillery pieces used together (1555).^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) Word Origins traces the electrical sense to this idea of combining to produce a result,^(Cresswell 2021) while Etymonline suggests it came through the notion of discharges.^(Etymonline) Benjamin Franklin used it in 1748 for a set of Leyden jars storing electricity,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) and in 1801 Humphry Davy used it for cells producing electricity.^(Barnhart 1988) In 19th-century baseball the pitcher and catcher were the battery (1867).^(Etymonline) A set of similar things, as in ''a battery of tests'', and the percussion section of an orchestra (1926) are later.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988) A battery of cages for hens is from the 20th century.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1531 – beating; assault in law.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1548 – bombardment.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1555 – a group of guns.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1748 – a set of electrical jars.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1801 – an electric cell.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1867 – in baseball, the pitcher and catcher.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1926 – the percussion of an orchestra.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A device of one or more cells that produces [[electricity]] by chemical reaction.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A group of large guns, or the soldiers who fire them.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A large group or series of similar things: ''a battery of [[test]]s''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(law)'' The crime of hitting or touching someone with intent to harm, as in ''assault and battery''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(chiefly British)'' A row of small cages for keeping hens.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[assault and battery]]

+ * [[battery eliminator]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[batter]]

+ * [[battle]]

+ * [[bat]]

+ * [[combat]]

+ * [[debate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}