battle cruiser

See also: battlecruiser and battle-cruiser

English

Alternative forms

• battlecruiser
• battle-cruiser

Noun

battle cruiser (plural battle cruisers)

1. (military) A fast, relatively lightly armoured cruiser designed to act as an advanced scout of the battle fleet; a development of the Dreadnought battleships
2. (fiction) A ship of intermediate size and/or intermediate capability between a heavy cruiser and a (light) battleship