Batten definition
To batten is to grow fat by eating continuously.
To eat large meals every day and gain weigh is an example of to batten.
verb
The definition of batten means to become well fed or wealthy at the expense of other people.
To steal from poor people in order to live a life of luxury is an example of to batten.
verb
To become fat.
verb
To thrive and prosper, especially at another's expense.
verb
A narrow strip of wood used in construction, especially to cover a seam between boards, as flooring material, or as a lath.
noun
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One of several flexible strips of wood or plastic placed in pockets at the outer edge of a sail to keep it flat.
noun
A narrow strip of wood used to fasten down the edges of the material that covers hatches in foul weather.
noun
The heavy swinging bar on a loom that holds the reed and is pulled forward to pack down the weft.
noun
A flat stick used in weaving by hand to separate the upper and lower threads of the warp and to tighten the weft.
noun
(nautical) To furnish, fasten, or secure with battens.
Battened down the hatch during the storm.
verb
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A sawed strip of wood, flooring, etc.
noun
A strip of wood put over a seam between boards as a fastening or covering.
noun
A short piece of wood or plastic inserted in a sail to keep it taut.
noun
A strip of steel or wood used to fasten canvas over a ship's hatchways.
noun
To fasten with battens.
verb
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To supply or strengthen with battens.
verb
To grow fat; thrive.
verb
To be well fed or wealthy at another's expense.
verb
To fatten up; overfeed.
verb
In a loom, the movable frame that presses into place the threads of a woof.
noun
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(intransitive) To thrive, prosper, or live in luxury, especially at the expense of others; fare sumptuously.
Robber barons who battened on the poor.
verb
A thin strip of wood used in construction to hold members of a structure together or to provide a fixing point.
noun
(nautical) A long strip of wood, metal, fibreglass etc used for various purposes aboard ship, especially one inserted in a pocket sewn on the sail in order to keep the sail flat.
noun
In stagecraft, a long pipe, usually metal, affixed to the ceiling or fly system in a theater.
noun
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To fatten; overfeed.
verb
batten down the hatches
- To prepare for an imminent disaster or emergency.
idiom
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batten down the hatches
- to fasten canvas over the hatches, esp. in preparing for a storm
idiom
Alternative Forms
Alternative Form of batten -
batton
Other Word Forms
Noun
Singular:
batten
Plural:
battensIdioms and Phrasal Verbs
Origin of batten
- Alteration of Middle English batent finished board or bar of wood from Old French batant wooden strip, clapper from present participle of batre to beat batter1 Noun, sense 3a and b, from French batant from Old French
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- Ultimately from Old Norse batna to improve bhad- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English *battenen, *batnen, of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse batna (“to grow better, improve, recover”), from Proto-Germanic *batnaną (“to become good, get better”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhAd- (“good”). Cognate with Icelandic batna (“to improve, recover”), Gothic (gabatnan, “to be noteful, profit, boot”), Dutch baten (“to avail, profit, benefit”), Old English batian (“to get better, recover”). More at better.
From Wiktionary
- From Middle English bataunt, batent (“finished board”), from Old French batent (“beating”)
From Wiktionary