English

Alternative forms

• baiche (obsolete)

Noun

batch ‎(plural batches)

1. A bank; a sandbank.
2. A field or patch of ground lying near a stream; the dale in which a stream flows.

Etymology 2

From Middle English bache, bacche, from Old English *bæċe, *bæċċe ‎(“baking; something baked”), from Proto-Germanic *bakiz ‎(“baking”), related to bacan ‎(“to bake”). Compare German Gebäck, Dutch gebak and baksel.

Noun

batch ‎(plural batches)

1. (obsolete) The process of baking.
   • 1551, T. Wilson, Logike 42 b:

     Except the baker doe his part also in the batch.

2. The quantity of bread or other baked goods baked at one time.

   We made a batch of cookies to take to the party.

3. A quantity of anything produced at one operation.

   We poured a bucket of water in at the top, and the ice-maker dispensed a batch of ice-cubes at the bottom.

4. A group or collection of things of the same kind, such as a batch of letters or the next batch of business.
   • Lady M. W. Montagu

     a new batch of Lords

5. (computing) A set of data to be processed with one execution of a program.

   The system throttled itself to batches of 50 requests at a time to keep the thread count under control.

6. (Britain, dialect, Midlands) A bread roll.
7. (Philippines) A graduating class.

   She was the valedictorian of Batch '73.

Synonyms

• (quantity of baked goods): recipe
• (anything produced in one operation): pressing, run, lot
• (group of things of the same kind): group, lot

Translations

Verb

batch ‎(third-person singular simple present batches, present participle batching, simple past and past participle batched)

1. To aggregate things together into a batch.

   The contractor batched the purchase orders for the entire month into one statement.

2. (computing) To handle a set of input data or requests as a batch process.

   The purchase requests for the day were stored in a queue and batched for printing the next morning.

Adjective

batch ‎(not comparable)

1. Of a process, operating for a defined set of conditions, and then halting.

   The plant had two batch assembly lines for packaging, as well as a continuous feed production line.

Antonyms

• continuous

Derived terms

• batch mode
• batch process

References

• batch in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• 1996, T.F. Hoad, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Etymology, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192830988

Etymology 3

from an abbreviation of the pronunciation of bachelor ‎(“unmarried adult male”)

Verb

batch ‎(third-person singular simple present batches, present participle batching, simple past and past participle batched)

1. (informal) To live as a bachelor temporarily, of a married man or someone virtually married.

   I am batching next week when my wife visits her sister.

Usage notes

• Often with it: "I usually batch it three nights a week when she calls on her out-of-town accounts."

Swedish

Noun

batch c

1. (computing, slang) a batch (of commands, processed as a group)

Declension

Synonyms

• kommandofil
• körning
• program
• sats