1560s, "to fight, struggle, contend" (intransitive), from French combat (16c.), from Old French combattre (12c.), from Late Latin combattere, from Latin com "with (each other)," see com-, + battuere "to beat, fight" (see batter (v.)). Transitive sense is from 1580s; figurative sense from 1620s. Related: Combated; combating; combatted; combatting.
1560s, "a fight," originally especially "a fight between two armed persons" (later distinguished as single combat, 1620s), also in a general sense of "any struggle or fight between opposing forces," from French combat (see combat (v.)).
mid-14c., celynge, "act of paneling a room," noun formed (with -ing) from Middle English verb ceil "put a cover or ceiling over," later "cover (walls) with wainscoting, panels, etc." (early 15c.); from Old French celer "conceal," also "cover with paneling" (12c.), from Latin celare "to hide" (from PIE root *kel- (1) "to cover, conceal, save"). Probably influenced by Latin caelum "heaven, sky" (see celestial).
Extended to the paneling itself from late 14c., then to lath-and-plaster work. The meaning "interior overhead surface of a room" is attested by 1530s; by late 19c. the meaning "wainscoting" was only in provincial English. Figurative sense of "upper limit" is from 1934.
Colloquial figurative phrase hit the ceiling "lose one's temper, get explosively angry" is attested by 1908; earlier it meant "to fail" (by 1900, originally U.S. college slang). Glass ceiling in the figurative sense of "invisible barrier that prevents women from advancing" in management, etc., is attested from 1988.
1757, French, literally "out of combat." Hors (prep.) "out, beyond," is from Latin foris (adv.) "outside," literally "out of doors" (see foreign). De is from Latin de "of." For combat see combat (n.). A similar expression from French is hors concours "out of competition" (1884), of a work of art in an exhibition.
late 15c., duelle (from late 13c. in Latin form), "a single combat," also "a judicial single combat," from Medieval Latin duellum "combat between two persons," from Latin duellum "war," an Old Latin form of bellum (see bellicose). The Old Latin word was retained in poetic and archaic language and apparently given a special meaning in Medieval or Late Latin of "one-on-one combat" on fancied connection with duo "two."
Sometimes also in Italian form duello. The English word by 1610s had taken on the specialized sense of "premeditated and pre-arranged single combat involving deadly weapons in the presence of at least two witnesses." General sense of "any contest between two parties" is from 1590s.
"to raise or throw toward the skies," 1802, from sky (n.). By 1865 in reference to paintings hung near the ceiling in an exhibit. Related: Skyed; skyer; skying.
architectural term referring to under-faces, 1610s, from Italian soffita, fem. of soffitto "ceiling," noun use of adjective meaning "fixed beneath," from Vulgar Latin *suffictus "fastened below," from Latin suffixus (see suffix (n.)).
"engage in single combat, fight a duel," 1640s, see duel (n.). Related: Dueled; dueling; duelling.
mid-15c. (adj.) "contending, disposed to combat;" late 15c. (n.) "one who engages in battle;" from Old French combatant (Modern French combattant) "skilled at fighting, warlike" (also used as a noun in Old French), present-participle adjective of combattre (see combat (v.)).
