A melee (/ˈmeɪleɪ/ or /ˈmɛleɪ/) is a confused hand-to-hand fight among several people. The English term melee originated circa 1648 from the French word mêlée (French: [mɛle]), derived from the Old French mesler, from which medley and meddle were also derived.[1]
The 1812 tabletop wargame Kriegsspiel, and H.G. Wells' 1913 Little Wars, referred to the hand-combat stage of the game as a melée, or mêlée, respectively.[2][3] The term was brought over to tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, and in turn to role-playing video games, to describe any close-combat encounter.[4]
The first point to be considered is the number of combatants on either side and the relative advantages under which they are fighting; the second the losses and duration of the melee
We did at last contrive to do so ; we invented what we call the melee, and our revised rules in the event of a melee will be found set out upon a later page
