Batch

Pronunciation

• enPR: băch, IPA: /bæt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -ætʃ

From Middle English bache, bæcche, from Old English bæċe, beċe ("brook, stream"), from Proto-Germanic *bakiz ("brook"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰog- ("flowing water"). More at beach.

Alternative forms

• baiche obsolete

Full definition of batch

Noun

1. A bank; a sandbank.
2. A field or patch of ground lying near a stream; the dale in which a stream flows.

From Middle English bache (or bacche), from Old English bæcce ("something baked"), from bacan ("to bake"). Compare German Gebäck and Dutch baksel.

Noun

1. The quantity of bread or other baked goods baked at one time.We made a batch of cookies to take to the party.
2. A quantity of anything produced at one operation.We poured a bucket of water in top, and the ice maker spit out a batch of icecubes at the bottom.
3. A group or collection of things of the same kind, such as a batch of letters or the next batch of business.
• A new batch of Lords. --Lady M. W. Montagu.
4. (computing) A set of data to be processed with one execution of a program.The system throttled itself to batches of 50 requests at a time to keep the thread count under control.
5. (UK, dialect, Midlands) A bread roll.
6. (Philippines) A graduating class.She was the valedictorian of Batch '73.

Synonyms

• (quantity of baked goods) recipe
• (anything produced in one operation) pressing, run, lot
• (group of things of the same kind) group, lot

Verb

1. To aggregate things together into a batch.The contractor batched the purchase orders for the entire month into one statement.
2. (computing) To handle a set of input data or requests as a batch process.The purchase requests for the day were stored in a queue and batched for printing the next morning.

Adjective

1. Of a process, operating for a defined set of conditions, and then halting.''The plant had two batch assembly lines for packaging, as well as a continuous feed production line.

Antonyms

• continuous

Derived terms

• batch mode
• batch process

from an abbreviation of the pronunciation of bachelor ("unmarried adult male")

Verb

1. (informal) To live as a bachelor temporarily, of a married man or someone virtually married.I am batching next week when my wife visits her sister.

Usage notes

Often with it: "I usually batch it three nights a week when she calls on her out-of-town accounts."