bat Hear it!

bat¹ Definition

bat (bat)

noun

  1. any stout club, stick, or cudgel
  2. a club used to strike the ball in baseball and cricket
  3. a ping-pong paddle, squash racket, etc.
  4. ☆ a turn at batting, as in baseball
  5. Brit. a batsman at cricket
  6. cotton batting, esp. of an inferior quality; batt
  7. the whip used by a jockey
  8. Informal a blow or hit
  9. ☆ Slang a drinking bout; spree
  10. Brit., Informal fast pace; speed
  11. Ceramics a plaster disk on which the clay is based in modeling

Etymology: ME < OE batt, cudgel (prob. < Welsh bat < IE base *bhat-, to strike) & < OFr batte, pestle < battre, batter

transitive verb bat′·ted, bat′·ting

  1. to strike with or as with a bat
  2. to have a batting average of

intransitive verb

  1. to use a bat to bat left-handed
  2. to take a turn at batting to bat third in the lineup

bat¹ Idioms

at bat

☆

Baseball taking a turn at batting

bat around

☆ Slang
  1. to travel or roam about
  2. to consider or discuss (an idea, plan, etc.) freely and informally
  3. Baseball to have all the batters in the lineup come to bat in a single inning

bat out

☆

Slang to create or compose quickly or hastily

go to bat for

☆

Informal to intervene on behalf of; defend

(right) off the bat

☆

Informal immediately

bat² Definition

bat (bat)

noun

any of an order (Chiroptera) of furry, nocturnal flying mammals having membranous wings and navigating by echolocation; chiropter: various bats feed on insects, nectar, fruit, flesh, or blood

Etymology: altered < ME bakke < Scand, as in OSwed backa

bat² Idioms

blind as a bat

quite blind

have bats in the belfry

or have bats in one's belfry☆

Slang to be insane; have crazy notions

bat³ Definition

bat (bat)

transitive verb bat′·ted, bat′·ting

Informal to wink; blink; flutter

Etymology: ME baten, to flap (wings) < OFr battre, batter

bat³ Idioms

not bat an eye

or not bat an eyelash☆

Informal not show surprise

bat Synonyms

bat

n.

  1. A club, especially one used in sports

    ball bat, baseball bat, cricket bat, stick, club, racket, pole, mallet.

  2. *A blow

    hit, rap, knock; see blow 1.

  3. A turn at batting

    inning, round, trip to the plate, up, turn.

blind as a bat*

sightless, unseeing, blinded; see blind 1.

go to bat for*

intervene for, support, stand by, back up; see defend 3.

have bats in one's belfry*

be crazy, be mad, be eccentric, be peculiar, be out of one's mind, have a screw loose*; see also insane 1.

not bat an eye<strong> <em>or</em> </strong>eyelash*

not be surprised or shocked or amazed, ignore, remain unruffled, show no surprise, not turn a hair*, keep one's cool*; see also neglect 1.

(right) off the bat*

at once, without delay, instantly; see immediately.

bat Synonyms

bat

v.

strike, hit, whack, sock*; see hit 1.

bat Usage Examples

Object

eyelid: Well, Sean sailed through his rite of passage barely batting an eyelid.

Converse of object

  • hibernate: Can put grills on cave entrances to prevent interference to hibernating bats.
  • wield: Shortly after 9.30pm, 5 men approached the house wielding baseball bats.
  • roost: So problems only arise when building or repair work is being done which would disturb a colony of roosting bats.

Adjective modifier

  • long-eared: Can also be distinguished from the brown long-eared bat by the length of the thumb.
  • insectivorous: The use of sewage treatment works as foraging sites by insectivorous bats.
  • free-tailed: The Guide reckoned we saw about 3.5 million Mexican Free-tailed Bats exit the Cave in one hour 7.30-8.30pm.
  • whiskered: Vertebrate species in the Irish Vertebrate Red Data Book include whiskered bat, shoveler, pochard and brook lamprey.

Modifies a noun

  • roost: Mature trees, which are to be removed, should be inspected to whether they form bat roosts.
  • guano: She works on lake and marine sediment as well as on bat guano and honey.
  • detector: An opportunity to listen to bats using our bat detector.
  • rabies: Laboratory investigation of human deaths from vampire bat rabies in Peru.
  • mitzvah: I've got my bat mitzvah soon, which is my rite of passage.
  • droppings: No scraping of tables, flicking of bat droppings, or throwing of paper darts during any liturgy.

Noun used with modifier

  • horseshoe: Methods Samples of DNA were collected under license from English Nature from greater horseshoe bats in Dorset during 2005.
  • baseball: I don't even have my baseball bat yet.
  • pipistrelle: A single pipistrelle bat can eat up to 3000 insects per night.
  • cricket: Unlike, say, a tennis racket or cricket bat, a snooker cue is thought irreplaceable by its owner.
  • vampire: Third, by this time tales had perhaps begun to drift back of the vampire bats found in the New World.
  • noctule: PETIT, E. ( 1998 ) Population structure and post-glacial history of the noctule bat Nyctalus noctula ( Chiroptera, Mammalia ).

Browse dictionary entries near bat

  1. ‹ Basutoland
  2. ‹ Bastogne
  3. ‹ Bastion Host
  4. ‹ bastion
  5. ‹ basting
  6. ‹ bastinado
  7. ‹ bastille
  8. ‹ baste
  9. ‹ bastardy proceeding
  10. ‹ bastardy
  1. bat around ›
  2. bat mitzvah ›
  3. Bat-Yam ›
  4. Bataan ›
  5. Batangas ›
  6. Batavia ›
  7. batboy ›
  8. batch ›
  9. bate ›
  10. bateau ›