bat
/bæt/ noun, verb
Also a form of baht
- noun Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.
- noun (derogatory) An old woman.
- noun A club, made of wood like a baseball bat or otherwise, used as a weapon
- noun A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.
- noun A turn at hitting the ball with a bat in a game. “You've been in for ages. Can I have a bat now?”
- noun A player rated according to skill in batting. “He's a good fielder and a valuable bat.”
- noun (two-up) The piece of wood on which the spinner places the coins and then uses for throwing them.
- noun (mining) Shale or bituminous shale.
- noun A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.
- noun A part of a brick with one whole end.
- verb (transitive) To hit with a bat or (figuratively) as if with a bat. “He batted the ball away with a satisfying thwack.”
- verb (intransitive) To take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat in sports like cricket, baseball and softball, as opposed to fielding.
- verb (intransitive) To strike or swipe as though with a bat. “The cat batted at the toy.”
- verb (UK, dialect, obsolete) To bate or flutter, as a hawk.
- verb (transitive) To flutter “to bat one’s eyelashes”
- verb (US, UK, dialect) To wink.
- verb (intransitive, usually with ‘around’ or ‘about’) To flit quickly from place to place. “I’ve spent all week batting around the country.”
- noun (obsolete) A packsaddle.
- noun (UK, dialect, obsolete) A child's shoe without a welt.
- noun (UK, slang, obsolete) A boot that is badly made or in poor condition.
Synonyms
chiropter chiropteran flindermouse flitterbat flittermouse fluttermouse flying mouse rattlemouse reremouse kip kylie lannet stick at-bat squash racket squash racquet cricket bat flutter cream clobber drub thrash lick
Etymology
Dialectal variant of Middle English bakke, balke, of North Germanic origin (akin to dialectal Swedish natt-batta). Perhaps compare Old Norse (leðr)blaka (literally “(leather) flapper”), from leðr + blaka (“to flap”). Compare also Old Swedish natbakka, Old Danish nathbakkæ.
From Middle English bat, batte, from Old English batt (“bat, club, cudgel”), probably of Celtic origin, compare Old Breton bath (“club, cudgel”) and modern Breton bazh (“swagger stick”), ultimately from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂- (“to strike, beat, pierce”), similar to the Gaulish source of Latin battuō (“to beat, pound”).
From Middle English batten, baten (“to beat”), from Old French batre (“to beat”), from Late Latin battere, from Latin battuere, of uncertain origin; perhaps of Germanic or Celtic origin. In modern English reinterpreted as a verbal derivative of Etymology 2. Compare batter, battery.
Possibly a variant of bate.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A large stick; a club; specifically, a piece of wood with one end thicker or broader than the other, used in playing baseball, cricket, etc.
- noun Shale or bituminous shale. Kirwan.
- verb To strike or hit with a bat or a pole; to cudgel; to beat.
- verb To use a bat, as in a game of baseball.
Etymology [OE. batte, botte, AS. batt; perhaps fr. the Celtic; cf. Ir. bat, bata, stick, staff; but cf. also F. batte a beater (thing), wooden sword, battre to beat.]
Etymology [Corrupt. from OE. back, backe, balke; cf. Dan. aften- bakke]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bat”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details