Skirmish

  • 1Skirmish — 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. [1913 Webster] 2. A slight contest. [1913… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2Skirmish — 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 …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 3skirmish — [n] fight altercation, argument, battle, bout, brawl, brush, clash, combat, conflict, confrontation, disagreement, dispute, encounter, engagement, feud, fisticuffs*, fracas, fray, melee, quarrel, row, ruckus, rumble, run in*, scrap*, scuffle,… …

    New thesaurus

  • 4skirmish — ► NOUN ▪ an episode of irregular or unpremeditated fighting. ► VERB ▪ engage in a skirmish. DERIVATIVES skirmisher noun. ORIGIN from Old French eskirmir, from a Germanic verb meaning defend …

    English terms dictionary

  • 5skirmish — [skʉr′mish] n. [ME scarmoch < MFr escharmuche < It scaramuccia < schermire, to fight < Gmc, as in OHG * skirmjan, to protect < skirm, a guard: see SCREEN] 1. a brief fight or encounter between small groups, usually an incident of a …

    English World dictionary

  • 6skirmish — index affray, collision (dispute), commotion, confront (oppose), confrontation (altercation) …

    Law dictionary

  • 7skirmish — n *encounter, brush Analogous words: *contest, conflict, combat, fight, affray, fray: engagement, action, *battle …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 8skirmish — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ brief, little, minor, small ▪ border ▪ early, first, opening ▪ …

    Collocations dictionary

  • 9skirmish — I UK [ˈskɜː(r)mɪʃ] / US [ˈskɜrmɪʃ] noun [countable] Word forms skirmish : singular skirmish plural skirmishes 1) a fight, especially one that is away from the main fighting in a war An officer was killed in a skirmish with guerillas. 2) an… …

    English dictionary

  • 10skirmish — skir|mish [ˈskə:mıʃ US ˈskə:r ] n [Date: 1300 1400; : Old French; Origin: escaramouche, from Old Italian scaramuccia] 1.) a fight between small groups of soldiers, ships etc, especially one that happens away from the main part of a battle used in …

    Dictionary of contemporary English

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