One who wages battle against an enemy; a soldier; a general.
(Australia, dated) An itinerant worker or unemployed person.
1900, Henry Lawson, The Shanty-Keeper′s Wife, Over the Sliprails, Gutenberg eBook # 1313,
“But look here!” interrupted the Pilgrim, desperately, “we can′t afford to wait! We′re only ‘battlers’, me and my mate, pickin′ up crumbs by the wayside. We′ve got to catch the——”