Is there a word in English can express this?

There's no shorter expression that I know, OristarA.

You're doing just fine.

Remnants of his troops/ surviving soldiers fit for duty/ what was left of his army: you can use phrases like these.

"Fight up" is not a good expression; you can say "rise up against", or just "fight against"

Thanks McTag.

Just using "fight" instead of "fight up against" is fine. But one of my dictionaries indicates that "fight up against" is an idiom, which means "make a good fight against", so I used it.

That's not one I've heard before. What kind of english is it? e.g. British - American etc?

Oristar, I've never heard the expression "fight up against" either. I sometimes wonder about your dictionaries.

There's no idiom I know of for the "remnants of a defeated army."

The survivors!

no, we wouldn't use 'fight up' in English at all - it sounds very strange.

so just 'fight against'

Sounds like a mixture of "stand up against" and "fight".

Hi all.
Two out of the dictionaries in my hand have adopted the idiom, but they both are not English/American-English dictionary.

(1) Compendious English-Chinese Dictionary
(The original commentaries are in Chinese)

Fight up against: 1) to fight bitterly with... 2) to make a fierce battle with

(2) Contemporary English-Chinese Thesaurus

Fight up against: (Ditto)

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@ Frank Apisa,

It seems that the word survivor is used in peacetime, like a civilian survived in an accident, or a crime. I am afraid that McTag's "surviving soldiers" were better.

Methinks the Chinese have got it wrong.

Roberta you have a smudge on your nose just like my cat Barney. Do you think you might be related by any chance?

Oristar...'stragglers' might be appropriate. Especially if they are the remnants of a defeated army in retreat. But its more applicable to soldiers who get left behind, rather than those left fighting at the end of a battle.

Oristar - beware Chinese-English Dictionaries! Much better to use the advanced learners' dictionary from Oxford or Longman. May I recommend the Longman Activator which will answer a lot of your questions on nuances of meaning - it's a great book and I've used it to good effect in teaching English. I wrote a dictionary called Basic Idiomatic English which is in Chinese too, also Longman - when I lived in Hong Kong. But it may be TOO basic for you!

Steve, I hate to break it to ya, but my avatar is not a photo of me. It's my cat Mikey. And the smudge is, in fact, a bit of errant tabby stripe. Are Mikey and Barney related? Don't know? Does Barney have the normal number of toes? (Five on each front paw and four on each rear.) If he does, he's probably not related to Mikey, who is polydactyl.

Sorry to be injecting a cat discussion in the midst of an English thread.

Clary, You wrote a dictionary!! I'm impressed. I held a job as a definer for a while on the American Heritage dictionary. I ran screaming into the night. Too precise. I'm glad that you've recommended some books to Oristar. I've had some doubts about his sources for some time, but I didn't know what to suggest as replacements.

I loved AHD, the best! All those pics down the margins - I used it a lot at one time when I started as a lexicographer in 1971, on a joint project with Collins and an American publisher who pulled out in 1973 - some sort of economics problem. It was finally published as the Collins English Dictionary here in 79. We used Funk and Wagnalls, AHD, Random House, Hamlyn (Brit) and another college dic. as our backup materials, to make sure we'd covered all the defs.
I subsequently wrote primary dics for Africa and Hong Kong, and the idiomatic dictionary abovementioned, + idioms dictionaries too. Currently no lexicography about, so I'm writing grammar textbooks for HK!
I know your background is editorial and writing - be interested to know more!

Roberta,

Just asked Barney if he was a polydactyl and he said "no I'm a bloody pterodactyl and not a result of some cosanguinous union, now piss off." Charming. I only asked.

He can be a bit like that sometimes. But he's very clever for a ...whatever he is

Are you Japanese? I just had to ask, since I found "haizanhei" (remnants of a defeated army) in EDICT.

Steve, If Barney is clever, it's only further proof that he and Mikey are not related. Mikey is NOT clever. He's funny and lovable and BIG. I mean BIG. But cleverness is not one of is attributes. Also, he's self-conscious about his toes.

Roberta

Well he looks a nice cat anyway. And I'm sure he has great manual dexterity with all those fingers and toes. Very useful for opening food containers, operating computer keyboards or playing the piano.

I have to confess I had never heard of a polydactyl cat before, so I did a little research and LEARNT something. So thanks for that.

Now Chinese/japaneseEnglish for remnants of a defeated army. Just off to ask my cat.

who here aint chinese???(i aint)

So there are two Barneycats on site, huh?

I've got a vague feeling that there is such a word as Oristar is looking, but sure can't come up with it.