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}.