Adjacent Words

Skirmish definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SKIRMISH, n.
1. A slight fight in war; a light combat by armies at a great distance from each other, or between detachments and small parties.
2. A contest; a contention.
They never meet but there's a skirmish of wit.
SKIRM'ISH, v.i. To fight slightly or in small parties.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a minor short-term fight [syn: brush, clash, encounter, skirmish] v
1: engage in a skirmish

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English skyrmissh, alteration (influenced by Anglo-French eskermir to fence (with swords), protect, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German scirmen to protect, scirm shield) of skarmuch, from Anglo-French escarmuche, from Old Italian scaramuccia — more at screen Date: 14th century 1. a minor fight in war usually incidental to larger movements 2. a. a brisk preliminary verbal conflict b. a minor dispute or contest between opposing parties <the debate touched off a skirmish> II. intransitive verb Date: 14th century 1. to engage in a skirmish 2. to search about (as for supplies) ; scout around • skirmisher noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a piece of irregular or unpremeditated fighting esp. between small or outlying parts of armies or fleets, a slight engagement. 2 a short argument or contest of wit etc. --v.intr. engage in a skirmish. Derivatives: skirmisher n. Etymology: ME f. OF eskirmir, escremir f. Frank.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Skirmish Skir"mish, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Skirmished; p. pr. & vb. n. Skirmishing.] [OE. skirmishen, scarmishen, OF. escremir, eskermir, to fence, fight, F. escrimer, of German origin; cf. OHG. scirmen to protect, defend, G. schirmen, OHG. scirm, scerm, protection, shield, G. schirm; perhaps akin to Gr. ???? a sunshade. Cf. Scaramouch, Scrimmage.] To fight slightly or in small parties; to engage in a skirmish or skirmishes; to act as skirmishers.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Skirmish Skir"mish, n.[OE. scarmishe, scrymishe. See Skirmish, v. i.] 1. A slight fight in war; a light or desultory combat between detachments from armies, or between detached and small bodies of troops. 2. A slight contest. They never meet but there's a skirmish of wit. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(skirmishes, skirmishing, skirmished) 1. A skirmish is a minor battle. Border skirmishes between India and Pakistan were common. N-COUNT: oft N with/between n 2. If people skirmish, they fight. They were skirmishing close to the minefield now... Police skirmished with youths on the estate last Friday. V-RECIP: pl-n V, V with n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Fight (of slight consequence), battle, collision, conflict, combat, brush, affair, contest, contention.

Moby Thesaurus

action, aerial combat, affray, ambush, armored combat, assault, attack, battle, battle royal, box, brawl, broil, brush, bullfight, clash, clash of arms, close, cockfight, collide, combat, come to blows, conflict, confrontation, contend, contest, cut and thrust, dogfight, duel, embroilment, encounter, engagement, exchange blows, exchange of blows, fence, feud, fight, fight a duel, fire fight, fracas, fray, give and take, give satisfaction, grapple, grapple with, ground combat, hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight, house-to-house combat, jostle, joust, melee, mix it up, naval combat, passage of arms, pitched battle, quarrel, rassle, riot, rumble, run a tilt, run-in, running fight, scramble, scrap, scrimmage, scuffle, set-to, shoving match, showdown, spar, stand-up fight, street fight, strive, struggle, tauromachy, thrust and parry, tilt, tourney, tug-of-war, tussle, wage war, war, wrestle