free-for-all vs melee

free-for-all

noun
  • Chaos; a chaotic situation lacking rules or control. 

  • Deathmatch, sometimes specifically one in which every player is pitted against all the others. 

adj
  • Open to anyone and with no or few rules. 

melee

noun
  • Any confused, disorganised, disordered or chaotic situation. 

  • A cavalry exercise in which two groups of riders try to cut paper plumes off the helmets of their opponents, the contest continuing until no member of one group retains his plume. 

  • A loud, confused or tumultuous fight, argument or scrap. 

  • Lively contention or debate, skirmish. 

  • A battle fought at close range, (especially) one not involving ranged weapons; hand-to-hand combat; brawling. 

  • Small cut and polished gemstones sold in lots. 

verb
  • To physically hit in close quarters, as opposed to shooting, blowing up, or other ranged means of damage. Often refers to the usage of a hand-to-hand weapon. 

adj
  • Of a weapon: used in close-range combat. 

How often have the words free-for-all and melee occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )