Bat

Pronunciation

• enPR: băt, IPA: /bæt/
• Rhymes: -æt

Dialectal variant (akin to the dialectal Swedish term natt-batta) of Middle English bakke, balke, from Scandinavian (compare Old Swedish natbakka, Old Danish nathbakkæ, Old Norse leðrblaka).

Full definition of bat

Noun

1. Any of the small, nocturnal, flying mammals of the order Chiroptera, which navigate by means of echolocation.
• 2012, Suemedha Sood, (bbc.co.uk) Travelwise: Texas love bats sicAs well as being worth millions of dollars to the Texan agriculture industry, these mammals are worth millions of dollars to the state’s tourism industry. Texas is home to the world’s largest known bat colony (in Comal County), and the world’s largest urban bat colony (in Austin). Bat watching is a common activity, with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department offering more bat-viewing sites than anywhere else in the US.
2. (offensive) An old woman.
3. (1811) A whore who prowls in the dusk/evening like a bat.

Synonyms

• (flying mammal) chiropter, flindermouse, flittermouse, fluttermouse, flying-mouse, rearmouse/reremouse

Derived terms

Old English batt

Noun

1. A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.
2. A turn at hitting the ball with a bat in a game.
3. (two-up) The piece of wood on which the spinner places the coins and then uses for throwing them.Sidney J. Baker, The Australian Language, second edition, 1966, chapter XI section 3, page 242
4. (mining) Shale or bituminous shale.
5. A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.
6. A part of a brick with one whole end.

Synonyms

• (two-up) kip, stick, kylie, lannet

Derived terms

Verb

1. (transitive) to hit with a bat.
2. (intransitive) to take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat in sports like cricket, baseball and softball, as opposed to fielding.
3. (intransitive) to strike or swipe as though with a batThe cat batted at the toy.

Derived terms

Hyponyms

• Myotis

Possibly a variant of bate.

Verb

1. (transitive) to flutter: bat one's eyelashes.

Usage notes

Most commonly used in phrase bat an eye, and variants thereof.

Derived terms

• bat an eye, bat an eyelash, bat an eyelid

French bât, from Old French bast, from Vulgar Latin *bastum, form of *bastāre ("to carry"), from Late Greek *bastân, from Ancient Greek βαστάζω (bastázō, "to lift, carry").

"batman." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 2009.

Cognate to baton.

Online Etymology Dictionary

Noun

1. (obsolete) packsaddle

Derived terms

• batman

Anagrams

• abt
• ATB
• tab
• TBA