1. Plural of battue: a hunt in which game is driven toward hunters by beaters; also, the slaughter of game in such a hunt.
Usage: hunting term; often implies large-scale or indiscriminate killing
2. A confused or disorderly rout or massacre; a general slaughter.
Usage: figurative or historical use

Examples

• The estate organized several battues during the hunting season to control the deer population.
• The battues were conducted with military precision, with beaters driving the pheasants toward the waiting guns.
• Historical accounts describe the battues as brutal affairs that left hundreds of animals dead.
• Modern wildlife managers debate the ethics of large-scale battues compared to selective hunting.
• The royal battues of the 18th century were lavish spectacles attended by nobility.