battery, in criminal and tort law, the unpermitted touching of any part of the person of another, or of anything worn, carried by, or intimately associated at that moment (as a chair being sat on) with another. Contact must be intended by the aggressor, must be reasonably considered offensive, and must be without consent by the one affected. (Consent is assumed for the ordinary and customary contacts of everyday life.) Gross negligence may provide the intent necessary to constitute a battery. Actual physical injuries need not be sustained by the victim; thus a doctor who performs an operation without consent can be sued for battery, even though the patient is benefited by the operation. The term "assault and battery" refers to a crime, the unlawful touching of another as the consummation of an
assault assault, in law, an attempt or threat, going beyond mere words, to use violence, with the intent and the apparent ability to do harm to another. If violent contact actually occurs, the offense of battery has been committed; modern criminal statutes often combine
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battery
The sodium-sulfur (NaS) battery, patented in 1965 by the Ford Motor Company, has been used in some …
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Any of a class of devices, consisting of a group of electrochemical cells (
see electrochemistry), that convert chemical
energy into electrical energy; the term is also commonly applied to a single cell of this kind. A wet cell (e.g., a car battery) contains free liquid
electrolyte; in a dry cell (e.g., a flashlight battery) the electrolyte is held in an absorbent material. Chemicals are arranged so that
electrons released from the battery's negative electrode flow (
see electric current) through a
circuit outside the battery (in the device powered by it) to the battery's positive electrode. The battery's voltage depends on the chemicals used and the number of cells (in series); the current depends on the resistance in the total circuit (including the battery—and thus on electrode size). Multiple batteries may be connected in series (the positive electrode of one to the negative electrode of the next), which increases total voltage, or in parallel (positive to positive and negative to negative), which increases total current. Batteries that are not rechargeable include standard dry cells used in flashlights and certain wet cells for marine, mine, highway, and military use. Car batteries, many kinds of dry cells used in cordless appliances, and batteries for certain military and aerospace uses may be recharged repeatedly.
battery
See batteries.
battery1. a. two or more primary cells connected together, usually in series, to provide a source of electric current
3. Criminal law unlawful beating or wounding of a person or mere touching in a hostile or offensive manner
4. Chiefly Brita. a large group of cages for intensive rearing of poultry
b. (as modifier): battery hens
5. Psychol a series of tests
6. Chess two men of the same colour placed so that one can unmask an attack by the other by moving
7. the percussion section in an orchestra
8. Baseball the pitcher and the catcher considered together
battery [
′bad·ə·rē]
(chemical engineering)
A series of distillation columns or other processing equipment operated as a single unit.
(electricity)
A direct-current voltage source made up of one or more units that convert chemical, thermal, nuclear, or solar energy into electrical energy.
(ordnance)
A group of guns or other weapons, such as mortars, machine guns, artillery pieces, or of searchlights, set up under one tactical commander in a certain area.
Battery (military), the basic artillery firing subunit. Batteries can be separate (regimental battery, coast artillery battery) or can be part of artillery battalions (regiments). The concept “battery” originally signified a large tactical unit containing a specific number of guns (for example, the French Army’s 100–gun battery at the Battle of Wagram in 1809). In Russia an organic firing unit was introduced in 1833 instead of a company. In modern armies a battery contains from two to three firing platoons, a headquarters platoon (squad), and from two to six guns (infantry mortars) or from four to six mounts. In combat all components of the battery are generally utilized. Batteries of regimental, antitank, and low caliber antiaircraft artillery can also be employed in platoons or by the piece. Subunits which undertake topographic, sound-ranging, and optical reconnaisance are also called batteries. There are also headquarters batteries, maintenance batteries, training batteries, and so on.
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