Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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}.

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.

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 : WordNet®

combat
     v : battle or contend against in or as if in a battle; "The
         Kurds are combating Iraqi troops in Nothern Iraq"; "We
         must combat the prejudices against other races"; "they
         battled over the budget" [syn: {battle}]
     [also: {combatting}, {combatted}]

combat
     n 1: an engagement fought between two military forces [syn: {armed
          combat}]
     2: the act of fighting; any contest or struggle; "a fight broke
        out at the hockey game"; "there was fighting in the
        streets"; "the unhappy couple got into a terrible scrap"
        [syn: {fight}, {fighting}, {scrap}]
     [also: {combatting}, {combatted}]