\Bat"ter*y\, n.; pl. {Batteries}. [F. batterie, fr.
battre. See {Batter}, v. t.]
1. The act of battering or beating.
2. (Law) The unlawful beating of another. It includes every
   willful, angry and violent, or negligent touching of
   another's person or clothes, or anything attached to his
   person or held by him.
3. (Mil.)
   (a) Any place where cannon or mortars are mounted, for
       attack or defense.
   (b) Two or more pieces of artillery in the field.
   (c) A company or division of artillery, including the
       gunners, guns, horses, and all equipments. In the
       United States, a battery of flying artillery consists
       usually of six guns.
{Barbette battery}. See {Barbette}.
{Battery d'enfilade}, or {Enfilading battery}, one that
   sweeps the whole length of a line of troops or part of a
   work.
{Battery en ['e]charpe}, one that plays obliquely.
{Battery gun}, a gun capable of firing a number, of shots
   simultaneously or successively without stopping to load.
{Battery wagon}, a wagon employed to transport the tools and
   materials for repair of the carriages, etc., of the
   battery.
{In battery}, projecting, as a gun, into an embrasure or over
   a parapet in readiness for firing.
{Masked battery}, a battery artificially concealed until
   required to open upon the enemy.
{Out of battery}, or {From battery}, withdrawn, as a gun, to
   a position for loading.
4. (Elec.)
   (a) A number of coated jars (Leyden jars) so connected
       that they may be charged and discharged
       simultaneously.
   (b) An apparatus for generating voltaic electricity.
Note: In the trough battery, copper and zinc plates,
      connected in pairs, divide the trough into cells, which
      are filled with an acid or oxidizing liquid; the effect
      is exhibited when wires connected with the two
      end-plates are brought together. In Daniell's battery,
      the metals are zinc and copper, the former in dilute
      sulphuric acid, or a solution of sulphate of zinc, the
      latter in a saturated solution of sulphate of copper. A
      modification of this is the common gravity battery, so
      called from the automatic action of the two fluids,
      which are separated by their specific gravities. In
      Grove's battery, platinum is the metal used with zinc;
      two fluids are used, one of them in a porous cell
      surrounded by the other. In Bunsen's or the carbon
      battery, the carbon of gas coke is substituted for the
      platinum of Grove's. In Leclanch['e]'s battery, the
      elements are zinc in a solution of ammonium chloride,
      and gas carbon surrounded with manganese dioxide in a
      porous cell. A secondary battery is a battery which
      usually has the two plates of the same kind, generally
      of lead, in dilute sulphuric acid, and which, when
      traversed by an electric current, becomes charged, and
      is then capable of giving a current of itself for a
      time, owing to chemical changes produced by the
      charging current. A storage battery is a kind of
      secondary battery used for accumulating and storing the
      energy of electrical charges or currents, usually by
      means of chemical work done by them; an accumulator.
5. A number of similar machines or devices in position; an
   apparatus consisting of a set of similar parts; as, a
   battery of boilers, of retorts, condensers, etc.
6. (Metallurgy) A series of stamps operated by one motive
   power, for crushing ores containing the precious metals.
   --Knight.
7. The box in which the stamps for crushing ore play up and
   down.
8. (Baseball) The pitcher and catcher together.