What does battue mean?
A battue is, in its original sense, a method of hunting in which lines of beaters walk through woodland or fields to drive game—most often pheasants, deer, or hares—toward concealed shooters waiting at a fixed position. The technique, imported into English from nineteenth-century France, remains part of the vocabulary of traditional European estate shooting. By natural extension of its imagery, the word came to describe any indiscriminate slaughter: journalists and historians have used it for massacres in which crowds or populations were hunted down and killed without discrimination. The term is formal and literary rather than colloquial, and it carries an undertone of cold, organized violence even when applied to sport. For writers, it offers a compact, evocative alternative to plainer words like 'drive' or 'massacre,' evoking both the choreographed rituals of the shooting field and the grim arithmetic of a one-sided killing.
nounA method of hunting in which beaters drive game toward waiting shooters; by extension, a indiscriminate slaughter or killing of large numbers of people.
- A form of hunting in which beaters move through cover to drive game toward stationary shooters.
- An indiscriminate slaughter or massacre of many people.
"The estate organized a battue, with lines of beaters driving pheasants toward the guns."
"Beaters moved through the undergrowth in a classic battue, flushing the birds skyward toward the line of guns."
"The raid descended into a battue, with soldiers firing indiscriminately into the fleeing crowd."
Standard plural; used mainly in historical or sporting writing when referring to multiple hunts or multiple massacres.
"The estate's autumn calendar was filled with battues attended by paying guests."
Born on French hunting estates as a way to flush pheasants toward the guns, 'battue' darkened over time into a word for indiscriminate massacre.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of battue
Battue was borrowed directly from French in the mid-nineteenth century, where it referred to the practice of beating game toward hunters. It derives ultimately from the Latin verb battuere, meaning 'to beat' or 'to strike', the same root that gives English batter, battle, combat, and abate. Its figurative sense—a wholesale slaughter of people—developed later, extending the image of driven, helpless quarry to human victims.
How battue is actually used
Formal and somewhat literary. The hunting sense is chiefly British and associated with traditional estate shooting; the figurative 'slaughter' sense appears most often in historical or journalistic prose describing massacres.
Easily confused with battue
A bateau is a small flat-bottomed boat, whereas a battue is either a driven hunt or a mass slaughter.