Combat \Com"bat\, n. [Cf. F. combat.]

1. A fight; a contest of violence; a struggle for supremacy.

My courage try by combat, if thou dar'st. --Shak.

The noble combat that 'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina. --Shak.

2. (Mil.) An engagement of no great magnitude; or one in which the parties engaged are not armies.

Single combat, one in which a single combatant meets a single opponent, as in the case of David and Goliath; also, a duel.

Syn: A battle; engagement; conflict; contest; contention; struggle; fight, strife. See Battle, Contest.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Combat \Com"bat\ (? or ?; 277), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Combated; p. pr. & vb. n. Combating.]

[F. combattre; pref. com- + battre to beat, fr. L. battuere to strike. See Batter.]

To struggle or contend, as with an opposing force; to fight.

To combat with a blind man I disdain. --Milton.

After the fall of the republic, the Romans combated only for the choice of masters. --Gibbon.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Combat \Com"bat\, v. t. To fight with; to oppose by force, argument, etc.; to contend against; to resist.

When he the ambitious Norway combated. --Shak.

And combated in silence all these reasons. --Milton.

Minds combat minds, repelling and repelled. --Goldsmith.

Syn: To fight against; resist; oppose; withstand; oppugn; antagonize; repel; resent.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)