bât (bā), n.m., pack-saddle. Un cheval de —; a pack-horse; (fig.) stupid person. Vous ne savez pas où le — le blesse; you know not where the shoe pinches him.
bataclan, n.m., uproar, row, shindy. Et tout le —; and the rest of it.
*bataille, n.f., battle, fight, engagement; battle array; beggar-my-neighbor. — rangée; pitched battle. Ranger une armée en —; to draw up an army in battle-array. Cheval de —; war-horse. Livrer —, or donner —; to give battle. Livrer — pour quelqu’un; to take up the cudgels for any one. C’est son cheval de —; it is his sheet-anchor or stronghold.
*batailler, v.n., to battle, to fight; to struggle hard.
*batailleu-r, -se, adj., combative, pugnacious, quarrelsome; disputatious.
*bataillon, n.m., battalion; (fig.) great number, host, regiment. —s, pl., army. Chef de —; major.
bâtard, -e, adj., bastard, base-born, illegitimate, spurious; mongrel; inclined (of writing). Chien —; mongrel. Fruits —s; spurious fruits. Porte —e; small gateway.
bâtard, n.m., -e, n.f., bastard, natural child.
batardeau, n.m., coffer-dam.
bâtardière, n.f., nursery of grafted trees.