Having characteristics similar to those of a bat, usually used with reference to the flying mammal.
1838: William Gifford, et al., The Quarterly Review, p. 113:... they cling, like creepers or women, to the nearest support, to fly from that corroding ennui and listlessness, those tumults of the mind, which flit batlike amid the golden-groined ceilings, and cannot be dispelled by the lictor guard.''
1916, James Joyce, He had told himself bitterly as he walked through the streets that she was a figure of the womanhood of her country, a batlike soul waking to the consciousness of itself in darkness and secrecy and loneliness.
1953, L. P. Hartley, The Go-BetweenThere was a trap somewhere, I felt sure; and though I didn't know the term "hush-money," its meaning flittered, bat-like, about my mind.
1981, James B. Twitchell, The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature, p. 29The most famous of these Los Caprichos is “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters†(plate 43), which has a sky full of batlike creatures.
1912, Charles B. Hayward, Dirigible Balloons, p. 1:His sketches show the details of batlike wings which were to spread out on the downward stroke and fold up with the upward stroke.
2006, Les Beletsky, Birds of the World, p. 180:The Oilbird is one of the few bird species to use batlike echolocation to help navigate the night and cave darkness.
