Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Bat

Bat

(băt)
,
Noun.
[OE.
batte
,
botte
, AS.
batt
; perhaps fr. the Celtic; cf. Ir.
bat
,
bata
, stick, staff; but cf. also F.
batte
a beater (thing), wooden sword,
battre
to beat.]
1.
A large stick; a club; specifically, a piece of wood with one end thicker or broader than the other, used in playing baseball, cricket, etc.
3.
A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.
5.
(Mining)
Shale or bituminous shale.
Kirwan.
Bat bolt
(Machinery)
,
a bolt barbed or jagged at its butt or tang to make it hold the more firmly.
Knight.

Bat

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Batted
(băt′tĕd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Batting
.]
To strike or hit with a bat or a pole; to cudgel; to beat.
Holland.

Bat

,
Noun.
[Corrupt. from OE.
back
,
backe
,
balke
; cf. Dan. aften-
bakke
(
aften
evening), Sw. natt-
backa
(
natt
night), Icel. leðr-
blaka
(
leðr
leather), Icel.
blaka
to flutter.]
(Zool.)
One of the
Chiroptera
, an order of flying mammals, in which the wings are formed by a membrane stretched between the elongated fingers, legs, and tail. The common bats are small and insectivorous. See
Chiroptera
and
Vampire
.
Silent
bats
in drowsy clusters cling.
Goldsmith.
Bat tick
(Zool.)
,
a wingless, dipterous insect of the genus
Nycteribia
, parasitic on bats.

Webster 1828 Edition

Bat

BAT

,
Noun.
1.
A heavy stick or club; a piece of wood with one end thicker or broader than the other.
2.
Bat or bate, a small copper coin of Germany, with a small mixture of silver, worth four crutzers. Also a coin of Switzerland, worth five livres.
3.
A term given by miners to shale or bituminous shale.

BAT

,
Verb.
I.
To manage a bat, or play with one.

BAT

,
Noun.
[I have not found this word in any European language, except in English.]
A race of quadrupeds, technically called Vespertilio, of the order primates, in Linne's system. The fore feet have the toes connected by a membrane, expanded into a kind of wings, by means of which the animals fly. The species are numerous. Of these, the vampire or Ternate bat inhabits Africa and the Oriental Isles. These animals fly in flocks from isle to isle, obscuring the sun by their numbers. Their wings when extended measure five or six feet. They live on fruits; but are said sometimes to draw blood from persons when asleep. The bats of the northern latitudes are small; they are viviparous and suckle their young. Their skin resembles that of a mouse. They enter houses in pleasant summer evenings, feed upon moths, flies, flesh, and oily substances, and are torpid during the winter.

Definition 2024

bat

bat

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bat"

English

A bat

Noun

bat ‎(plural bats)

  1. Any of the small, nocturnal, flying mammals of the order Chiroptera, which navigate by means of echolocation.
    • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, The Bat, chapterI:
      The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.
    • 2012, Suemedha Sood, (bbc.co.uk) Travelwise: Texas love bats [sic]
      As well as being worth millions of dollars to the Texan agriculture industry, these mammals are worth millions of dollars to the state’s tourism industry. Texas is home to the world’s largest known bat colony (in Comal County), and the world’s largest urban bat colony (in Austin). Bat watching is a common activity, with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department offering more bat-viewing sites than anywhere else in the US.
  2. (offensive) An old woman.
  3. (archaic, slang) A prostitute who prowls in the evening like a bat.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
See also
A baseball player swinging a baseball bat to hit a baseball

Etymology 2

Old English batt

Noun

bat ‎(plural bats)

  1. A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.
  2. A turn at hitting the ball with a bat in a game.
  3. (two-up) The piece of wood on which the spinner places the coins and then uses for throwing them.[1]
  4. (mining) Shale or bituminous shale.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Kirwan to this entry?)
  5. A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.
  6. A part of a brick with one whole end.
  7. A stroke; a sharp blow.
  8. (Britain, Scotland, dialect) A stroke of work.
  9. (informal) Rate of motion; speed.
    • Pall Mall Magazine
      a vast host of fowl […] making at full bat for the North Sea.
  10. (US, slang, dated) A spree; a jollification.
  11. (Britain, Scotland, dialect) Manner; rate; condition; state of health.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

bat ‎(third-person singular simple present bats, present participle batting, simple past and past participle batted)

  1. (transitive) to hit with a bat.
  2. (intransitive) to take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat in sports like cricket, baseball and softball, as opposed to fielding.
  3. (intransitive) to strike or swipe as though with a bat
    The cat batted at the toy.
Derived terms
Translations
Hyponyms

References

  1. ↑ Sidney J. Baker, The Australian Language, second edition, 1966, chapter XI section 3, page 242

Etymology 3

Possibly a variant of bate.

Verb

bat ‎(third-person singular simple present bats, present participle batting, simple past and past participle batted)

  1. (transitive) to flutter: bat one's eyelashes.
  2. (Britain, dialect, obsolete) To bate or flutter, as a hawk.
  3. (US, Britain, dialect) To wink.
Usage notes

Most commonly used in the phrase bat an eye, and variants thereof.

Derived terms

Etymology 4

From 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”).[1]

Cognate to baton.[2]

Noun

bat ‎(plural bats)

  1. (obsolete) packsaddle
Derived terms

Etymology 5

Noun

bat

  1. Dated form of baht. (Thai currency)

References

  1. ↑ "batman." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 2009.
  2. ↑ “bat” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Anagrams

Aromanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Late Latin battō, from Latin battuō. Compare Daco-Romanian bate, bat.

Verb

bat (third-person singular present indicative bati/bate, past participle bãtutã)

  1. I beat, hit, strike.
  2. I defeat.

Synonyms

Related terms

  • batiri/batire
  • bãtut, bãtutã
  • strãbat

Basque

Article

bat

  1. a, an
    • Musu bat — A kiss.
Basque cardinal numbers
 <  0 1 2  > 
    Cardinal : bat
    Ordinal : lehenengo

Numeral

bat

  1. one
    • Sagar bat eta lau laranja — One apple and four oranges.

Derived terms

  • batasun 'unity'
  • bakoitz 'each'
  • batzu 'some'

Catalan

Verb

bat

  1. third-person singular present indicative form of batre
  2. second-person singular imperative form of batre

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ba/

Verb

bat

  1. third-person singular present indicative of battre

Anagrams

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [baːt]
  • Rhymes: -aːt

Verb

bat

  1. first-person singular preterite indicative of bitten
  2. third-person singular preterite indicative of bitten

Lojban

Rafsi

bat

  1. rafsi of batci.

Luo

Noun

bat ‎(plural bede)

  1. arm

Middle Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bat/

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch *bat, *bet, from Proto-Germanic *batiz.

Alternative forms

Adverb

bat

  1. better; comparative degree of wel
Synonyms
Descendants

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch *bath, from Proto-Germanic *baþą.

Noun

bat n ‎(stem bad-)

  1. bath
Descendants

Min Nan

trad. 捌 or 八
simpl. 捌 or 八

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ bat˩˩ ]

Verb

bat ‎(POJ, traditional and simplified 捌 or 八)

  1. to know somebody; to recognize
  2. to be familiar with

See also

References

  • 台灣話大詞典　(Tâi-ôan-ōe tōa-sû-tián), ISBN 9573240785, 2000

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *baitaz. Related to Old Norse beit. Old Norse bátr (Icelandic: bátur) is a borrowing from Old English; German Boot and Dutch boot are loans from the Middle English descendant.

Pronunciation

Noun

bāt m ‎(nominative plural bātas)

  1. boat

Descendants

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowing from Old English bāt.

Noun

bat m ‎(oblique plural batz, nominative singular batz, nominative plural bat)

  1. boat

References

  • (fr) Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (bat)

Old Irish

Verb

bat

  1. third-person plural imperative of is

Polish

bat

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bat/

Noun

bat m inan

  1. whip (rod)

Declension

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • batożyć


Romanian

Verb

bat

  1. first-person singular present tense form of bate.
  2. first-person singular subjunctive form of bate.
  3. third-person plural present tense form of bate.

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *batъ.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bât/

Noun

bȁt m ‎(Cyrillic spelling ба̏т)

  1. mallet
  2. helve hammer
Declension

Etymology 2

From Ottoman Turkish [script needed] ‎(bastı) (Turkish bastı), from [script needed] ‎(basmak) (Turkish basmak).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bâːt/

Noun

bȃt m ‎(Cyrillic spelling ба̑т)

  1. The tramp of heavy footsteps, as in a military march
    • 1939, Čedomir Minderović, Crven je istok i zapad:
      Napred, sve bliže i bliže, / Čuje se koraka bat. / Glas milijona se diže: / Dole fašizam i rat!
      Forward, ever closer and closer, / the tramp of footsteps is heard. / The voice of millions is raised: / Down with fascism and war!
  2. (rare) The tramp of horses’ hooves
Declension

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bâːt/

Noun

bȃt m ‎(Cyrillic spelling ба̑т)

  1. Alternative form of bȁht
Declension

References

  • “bat” in Hrvatski jezični portal
  • “bat” in Hrvatski jezični portal
  • “bat” in Hrvatski jezični portal

Turkish

Verb

bat

  1. sink (imperative)

Tzotzil

Pronunciation

  • (Zinacantán) IPA(key): /ɓätʰ/

Verb

bat

  1. (intransitive) to go

References

Yucatec Maya

Noun

bat (plural bato’ob)

  1. hail, hailstone

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • enPR: băt, IPA(key): /bæt/
  • Rhymes: -æt
  • IPA(key): /baːt/

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