Jihad \Ji*had"\, Jehad \Je*had"\, n. [Ar. jih[=a]d.]

(Moham.) A religious war against infidels or Mohammedan heretics; also, any bitter war or crusade for a principle or belief.

[Their] courage in war . . . had not, like that of the Mohammedan dervishes of the Sudan, or of Mohammedans anywhere engaged in a jehad, a religious motive and the promise of future bliss behind it. --James Bryce.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)