Melee

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mel'ee \M[^e]`l['e]e"\ (m[asl]`l[asl]"), n. [F., fr. m[^e]ler to
     mix. See {Meddle}, {Mell}, and cf. {Mellay}.]
     1. A fight in which the combatants are mingled in one
        confused mass; a hand to hand conflict; an affray.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. A cavalry exercise in which two groups of riders try to
        cut paper plumes off the helmets of their opponents, the
        contest continuing until no member of one group retains
        his plume; -- sometimes called {Balaklava m[^e]l['e]e}.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  melee
       n : a noisy riotous fight [syn: {scrimmage}, {battle royal}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  53 Moby Thesaurus words for "melee":
     ado, bother, brawl, broil, brouhaha, brush, commotion, disturbance,
     dogfight, donnybrook, donnybrook fair, dustup, embroilment, fight,
     foofaraw, fracas, fray, free-for-all, fuss, hash, hassle,
     helter-skelter, hodgepodge, hubbub, jumble,
     knock-down-and-drag-out, medley, melange, mishmash, pastiche,
     pell-mell, pother, potpourri, racket, rampage, riot,
     rough-and-tumble, roughhouse, row, ruckus, ruction, rumpus,
     scramble, scrimmage, shindy, skirmish, stew, stir, to-do, trouble,
     tumult, turmoil, uproar