11 June 2018
battue
[ba-too, -tyoo; French ba-ty]
noun, plural battues [ba-tooz, -tyooz; French ba-ty]. Chiefly British.
1. Hunting.
the beating or driving of game from cover toward a stationary hunter.
a hunt or hunting party using this method of securing game.
2. undiscriminating slaughter of defenseless or unresisting crowds.
Origin of battue
Latin
1810-1820; < French, noun use of feminine of battu, past participle of battre < Latin battuere to beat. See battuta, battle1
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for battue
Historical Examples
The noise is as if a thousand sportsmen were out for a battue.
The Pearl of the Antilles, or An Artist in Cuba
Walter Goodman
The Indian assured him that it was not the first battue of the kind he had made.
The Forest Exiles
Mayne Reid
And as he surveyed the battue he would gradually discern its tactics.
Modern Women and What is Said of Them
Anonymous
His burghers were ready to “go on the battue of Englishmen,” when he gave the word.
Lord Milner’s Work in South Africa
W. Basil Worsfold
A battue of Communards is obviously superior to a battue of pheasants.
The History of Sir Richard Calmady
Lucas Malet
The battue in Ettrick Forest, for the destruction of the foxes.
The Pirate
Sir Walter Scott
I hate a battue, and call it sport I cannot, and never will.
Sporting Society, Vol. II (of 2)
Various
I went hunting with no company but the two hundred gamekeepers for the battue.
The Surprises of Life
Georges Clemenceau
From the beginning of the battue it was easy to see that the hunt would be a good one.
The Companions of Jehu
Alexandre Dumas, pre
In a battue of this description a whole neighbourhood joins.
Australian Pictures
Howard Willoughby
Anagram
tea tub
ate but
be taut
Today’s quote
What really counts isn’t whether your instrument is Baroque or modern: it’s your mindset.
– Simon Rattle
On this day
11 June 1955 – during the 24 hour Le Mans race, a Mercedes 300 crashes at high speed. Debris, including the engine block, axles and bonnet, slams through the crowd killing 83 spectators. The bonnet decapitated a number of spectators who had been tightly packed into the stand. The driver was also killed.
11 June 1962 – Three prisoners escape from the federal prison on Alcatraz Island. The three men, Frank Morris, and brothers, Clarence and John Anglin were never found. Authorities believe it is most likely that the three men did not survive the swim across San Francisco Bay, although their bodies were never recovered.
11 June 2001 – Timothy McVeigh executed for his role in the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, which killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children or babies.