combatant

Etymology

Inherited from late Middle English combataunt, from Middle French combatant. Doublet of combattant.

noun

1. A person engaged in combat, often armed.
   Gladiators were combatants who fought to the death to entertain the public.
   On the passage, one day, for the diversion of those gentlemen, all the boys were called on the quarter deck, and were paired proportionably, and then made to fight; after which the gentlemen gave the combatants from five to nine shillings each. 1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 3, in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, volume 1, London: for the author, page 112
   […] Don’t you realize that alcohol is an essential part of heroism? The combatant and the drunkard are brothers, you genius. 1992, Naguib Mahfouz, chapter 48, in William M. Hutchins, Angele Botros Samaan, transl., Sugar Street, New York: Anchor Books, published 1993, page 271

adj

1. Contending; disposed to contend.
   Their valours are not yet so combatant, Or truly antagonistick, as to fight; 1641, Ben Jonson, The Magnetic Lady, New York: Henry Holt, published 1914, act III, scene 5, page 65
2. Involving combat.
   He wished he were in a combatant service; he wanted to fight, fight. 1921, John Dos Passos, Three Soldiers, New York: Modern Library, published 1932, Part Two, Chapter 1, p. 71
3. Alternative form of combattant (“in heraldry: in a fighting position”)
   Or, two lions combatant gules, armed and langued (that is, claws and tongue) azure, is borne by the name of Wycombe; Azure , two lions combatant or, by the name of Carter; Azure , two lions combatant guardant argent, by […] 1846, William Newton, Display of Heraldry, page 84