Definition

1. Noun:
   • A hunt in which beaters drive game toward hunters: This refers to a specific hunting method where assistants (beaters) flush animals from cover, forcing them to move toward a line of waiting hunters.
   • Indiscriminate slaughter; a massacre: By extension, it can describe a ruthless and widespread killing of people, often in a violent or chaotic manner.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Hunting):

  • The estate organized a battue to control the pheasant population.
  • In a traditional battue, the beaters make noise to drive the game into the open.

• Noun (Slaughter/Massacre):

  • The historical account described the brutal battue of the village's inhabitants.
  • The rebellion was followed by a merciless battue of the suspected conspirators.

Advanced Usage

• "to conduct a battue": to organize and carry out such a hunt or, figuratively, a systematic search or roundup.
  • The police conducted a battue of the neighborhood in search of the fugitive.

Variants and Related Words

• Battue hunting (n): The specific practice of hunting using the battue method.
  • Battue hunting is often criticized for being unsporting.

Synonyms

• Hunt: A general term for the activity of pursuing and killing wild animals.
• Drive: A synonym specifically for the hunting method where game is driven toward hunters.
• Massacre: A synonym for the meaning of indiscriminate killing.
• Bloodbath: A synonym for a savage, widespread killing.

Related Phrases

• "like a battue": Used figuratively to describe an aggressive and sweeping search or attack.
  • The journalists descended on the scandal like a battue.

Notes on Meaning

The word battue originates from French, literally meaning "beaten." Its primary, literal meaning is tied to the hunting technique. The secondary meaning of "massacre" derives from the imagery of game being beaten out and killed indiscriminately, which was then applied to human violence. This term is relatively rare in modern everyday English and is most often found in historical, literary, or specific hunting contexts.

Noun

1. indiscriminate slaughter
   • a bloodbath took place when the leaders of the plot surrendered
   • ten days after the bloodletting Hitler gave the action its name
   • the valley is no stranger to bloodshed and murder
   • a huge prison battue was ordered
2. a hunt in which beaters force the game to flee in the direction of the hunter