While it is strictly true that battery means more than one battery,

Were I your schoolmistress, I would rap your knuckles and exclaim, "A battery is two or more of something; a single cell/gun emplacement/drum/pot de cuisine/pot de chambre/lawyer, etc, is not a battery!" (AnnaStrophic, may I borrow one of your "harrumph" emoticons?)

Strictly speaking, an "assault" is an attempt to commit a "battery", or the threat of a "battery", not a
"battery" itself.

Indeed. Hence the title of this thread. I am attempting to assail the American usage of battery.

Oh, and Keiva, I much prefer Van de Graff generators, or rubbing a cat's fur with an amber rod! It's the one and only use I can imagine for a cat.

Elvis is dead, but Nikola Tesla lives!!!