n. A backward slope in the face of a wall or of a bank; receding slope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Batter rule, an instrument consisting of a rule or frame, and a plumb line, by which the batter or slope of a wall is regulated in building. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The one who wields the bat in baseball; the one whose turn it is at bat; formerly called the batsman. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

v. i. (Arch.) To slope gently backward. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Battered p. pr. & vb. n. Battering. ] [ OE. bateren, OF. batre, F. battre, fr. LL. battere, for L. batuere to strike, beat; of unknown origin. Cf. Abate, Bate to abate. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To beat with successive blows; to beat repeatedly and with violence, so as to bruise, shatter, or demolish; as, to batter a wall or rampart. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To wear or impair as if by beating or by hard usage. “Each battered jade.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Metallurgy) To flatten (metal) by hammering, so as to compress it inwardly and spread it outwardly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. batere, batire; cf. OF. bateure, bature, a beating. See Batter, v. t. ] 1. A semi-liquid mixture of several ingredients, as, flour, eggs, milk, etc., beaten together and used in cookery. King. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Paste of clay or loam. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Printing) A bruise on the face of a plate or of type in the form. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. In deplorable condition; as, the battered old Ford station wagon.
Syn. -- beat-up, beaten-up, bedraggled, broken-down, dilapidated, ramshackle, tumble-down, unsound. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. Hit or pounded repeatedly and violently with heavy blows; as, a battered old car; antomyn of unbattered. [ Narrower terms: buffeted; storm-tossed, tempest-tossed, tempest-tost, tempest-swept ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. Damaged especially by hard usage. his battered old hat [ WordNet 1.5 ]

4. beaten repeatedly; -- of people; as, a battered child; the battered woman syndrome; a battered wife.
Syn. -- beaten. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who, or that which, batters. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the act or process of subjecting to strong repeated blows.
Syn. -- banging. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. (Mil.) An engine used in ancient times to beat down the walls of besieged places. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It was a large beam, with a head of iron, which was sometimes made to resemble the head of a ram. It was suspended by ropes to a beam supported by posts, and so balanced as to swing backward and forward, and was impelled by men against the wall. Grose. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A blacksmith's hammer, suspended, and worked horizontally. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Mil.) A train of artillery for siege operations. [ 1913 Webster ]