Definition of "line of battle" [line of battle]

• The position of troops drawn up in their usual order without any determined maneuver. (noun)
• The line or arrangement formed by vessels of war in an engagement. (noun)

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• "To Hill it may have seemed a long, long time before Heth's line of battle came in sight."
• "When the fleet of any nation actually beleaguers the port of its enemy, no other has a right to enter their line, any more than their line of battle in the open sea, or their lines of circumvallation, or of encampment, or of battle array on land."
• "These Virginians and Georgians were in line of battle to the right of and parallel to the Plank Road and about sixty yards from it."