battue

[ ba-too, -tyoo; French ba-ty ]

noun

, Chiefly British.

, plural bat·tues [ba-, tooz, -, tyooz, b, a, -, ty].

1. Hunting.
   1. the beating or driving of game from cover toward a stationary hunter.
   2. a hunt or hunting party using this method of securing game.
2. undiscriminating slaughter of defenseless or unresisting crowds.

battue

/ baty; -ˈtjuː; bæˈtuː /

noun

1. the beating of woodland or cover to force game to flee in the direction of hunters
2. 1. an organized shooting party using this method
   2. the game disturbed or shot by this method
3. indiscriminate slaughter, as of a defenceless crowd

Word History and Origins

Origin of battue¹

1810–20; < French, noun use of feminine of battu, past participle of battre < Latin battuere to beat. See battuta, battle ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of battue¹

C19: from French, feminine of battu beaten, from battre to beat, from Latin battuere

Example Sentences

Swiatek, whose first trophy in Paris came at age 19 in 2020, seems built for the surface the French call “terre battue.”

From Seattle Times

Thiem has been the world’s second best clay-courter behind Nadal for the past three seasons and long imagined that his first Grand Slam title would come on the French Open’s “terre battue” if it came at all.

From New York Times

As the only Grand Slam contested on clay — in this case, the so-called terre battue, which is essentially crushed brick — the French Open stands apart from Wimbledon and the Australian and U.S.

From Washington Post

From his first appearance there, as a teen-ager, he was attracted to its spacious expanses of clay behind the baselines—which allowed him to position himself deep, to buy time on service returns and through long rallies—attracted also to the quality of the red crushed brick, the terre battue, which sent his topspin forehands bouncing above his opponents’ shoulders, yielding, often enough, short, lifeless replies.

From The New Yorker

Playing in his 400th Grand Slam match, the 37-year-old showed little mercy to his 20-year-old Norwegian opponent, whose father Christian reached the third round when Federer first played on the ‘terre battue’ of Roland Garros as a wild card entrant in 1999.

From Reuters