https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=MeleeMelee - Revision history2026-09-25T13:03:45ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Melee&diff=388194&oldid=prevPositivesoul: Fresh page.2023-05-25T07:55:57Z<p>Fresh page.</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Hand-to-hand combat}}<br />
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{{Other uses}}<br />
{{For|usage in games|Melee (game terminology)}}<br />
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[[File:BattleofSluys.jpeg|thumb|Melee aboard ships at the [[Battle of Sluys]] 1340 (BNF Fr. 2643, 15th century)]]<br />
[[File:Death of King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden at the Battle of Lützen (Carl Wahlbom) - Nationalmuseum - 18031.tif|thumb|''[[Battle of Lutzen (1632)|Battle of Lützen]]'' by [[Carl Wahlbom]] depicting a melee in which King [[Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden]] was killed on 6 November 1632]]<br />
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A '''melee''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|eɪ|l|eɪ}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛ|l|eɪ}}, French: '''mêlée''' {{IPA-fr|mɛle}}) or '''pell-mell''' is disorganized [[hand-to-hand combat]] in [[close combat|battles fought at abnormally close range]] with little central control once it starts.{{sfn|OED|2015}} In [[military aviation]], a melee has been defined as "[a]n air battle in which several aircraft, both friend and foe, are confusingly intermingled".{{sfn|Kumar|DeRemer|Marshall|2004|p=462}}<br />
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==History of the term==<br />
In the 1579 translation of [[Plutarch]]'s ''[[Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans|Lives of the noble Grecians and Romanes]]'', [[Sir Thomas North]] uses the term '{{lang|enm|italic=no|pelmel}}' to refer to a disorganized retreat.<ref name="phrases">{{Cite web|url=https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/pell-mell.html|title = 'Pell-mell' - the meaning and origin of this phrase}}</ref> The phrase was later used in its current spelling in [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', 1594:<br />
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{{Quote<br />
|text= "March on, ioine brauelie, let vs to it pell mell, / If not to heauen then hand in hand to hell."<br />
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The phrase comes from the French expression ''pêle-mêle'', a rhyme based on the old French ''mesler'', meaning to mix or mingle.<ref name="phrases" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pell-mell|title = Pell-mell|date = 26 July 2021}}</ref><br />
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The French term ''melee'' was first used in English in c. 1640 (also derived from the old French ''mesler'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/melee#English|title = Melee|date = 29 November 2021}}</ref> but the Old French stem survives in ''[[:wikt:medley|medley]]'' and ''[[:wikt:meddle|meddle]]'').{{sfn|OED|2015}}<br />
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[[Lord Nelson]] described his tactics for the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] as inducing a "pell mell battle" focused on engagements between individual ships where the superior morale and skill of the [[Royal Navy]] would prevail.{{sfn|Fremont-Barnes|2005|p=38}}<br />
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The [[destroyer]] night action of the second [[Naval Battle of Guadalcanal]] on 13 November 1942 was so chaotic, and the opposing ships so intermingled, that an officer on {{USS|Monssen|DD-436|6}} later likened it to "a barroom brawl after the lights had been shot out".<ref name="guadalcanal441">Frank, ''Guadalcanal'', p. 441.</ref><br />
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==Usage in sport==<br />
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In [[Australian Rules Football]], the term "melee" is used by the [[Australian Football League]], sports commentators and journalists as a polite term for a brawl or fighting during a football match,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Laws of Australian Rules Football, 2019 - page 8 |url=https://resources.afl.com.au/afl/document/2019/12/04/d8d5f2cf-04eb-4530-b2d5-5cc799ff625c/2019-Laws-of-Australian-Football.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=2 April 2022 |website=Australian Football League}}</ref> where football players physically attack. Melees often start as verbal disagreements between a small number players from the opposing teams, but can quickly escalate into many players from both teams joining in with this physical scuffle.<ref>{{Citation |title=AFL Melees: Pies, Cats, Port, Dons, Demons and Tigers |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50sv6cFENSw |language=en |access-date=2022-04-02}}</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Chance medley]]<br />
*[[Close-quarters combat]]<br />
*[[Combat]]<br />
*[[Galley tactics]]<br />
*[[Melee (gaming)]]<br />
*[[Melee weapon]]<br />
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==Notes==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==References==<br />
*{{citation |last=Fremont-Barnes |first=Gregory |year=2005 |title=Trafalgar 1805: Nelson's Crowning Victory |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-84176-892-2 |page=38 [https://books.google.com/books?id=6i0ImfJlYcEC&pg=PA38 38]}}<br />
*{{citation |last1=Kumar |first1=Bharat |last2=DeRemer |first2=Dale |last3=Marshall |first3=Douglas |year=2004 |title=An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_Zei3jR1U4C |publisher=McGraw Hill Professional|isbn=978-0-07-178260-9 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=g_Zei3jR1U4C&q=Melee 462]}}<br />
*{{citation |ref={{harvid|OED|2015}}|title=Oxford English Dictionary|date=March 2015|article=mêlée n.|edition=online |publisher=Oxford University Press|chapter-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/116086}}<!--" A battle or engagement at close quarters, a hand-to-hand fight; a skirmish; a confused struggle or scuffle, esp. one involving many people. Also hist.: a tournament involving two groups of combatants."--><br />
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[[Category:Military science]]<br />
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