Bat Definition

băt
bats, batted, batting
noun
bats
A stout wooden stick; a cudgel.
American Heritage
Any stout club, stick, or cudgel.
Webster's New World
A blow, such as one delivered with a stick.
American Heritage
A club used to strike the ball in baseball and cricket.
Webster's New World
A rounded, often wooden club, wider and heavier at the hitting end and tapering at the handle, used to strike the ball.
American Heritage
verb
bats, batted, batting
To hit with or as if with a bat.
American Heritage
To wink or flutter.
Bat one's eyelashes.
American Heritage
To strike with or as with a bat.
Webster's New World
To use a bat.
To bat left-handed.
Webster's New World
To cause (a run) to be scored while at bat.
Batted the winning run in with a double.
American Heritage
abbreviation
Bachelor of Arts in Teaching.
American Heritage
idiom
at bat
  • Taking one's turn to bat, as in baseball or cricket.
American Heritage
go to bat for
  • To give assistance to; defend.
American Heritage
right off the bat
  • Without hesitation; immediately:

    They responded right off the bat.

American Heritage
have bats in (one's) belfry
  • To behave in an eccentric, bizarre manner.
American Heritage
not bat an eye
  • To show no emotion; appear unaffected:

    The reporter didn't bat an eyelash while reading the gruesome news.

American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Bat

Noun

Singular:
bat
Plural:
bats

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Bat

Origin of Bat

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

    From Wiktionary

  • 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”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English perhaps partly of Celtic origin and partly from Old French batte pounding implement, flail (from batre to beat batter1)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Alteration of Middle English bakke of Scandinavian origin

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Probably from batter spree

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Probably a variant of bate

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Possibly a variant of bate.

    From Wiktionary

  • Cognate to baton.

    From Wiktionary

  • Old English batt

    From Wiktionary

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