bat
Forms
- Plural
- bats
- present (v1)
- bat
- past (v2)
- batted
- past participle (v3)
- batted
- present participle
- batting
- 3rd person singular
- bats
Definitions
1.Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.
2.An old woman.
- "Isn't it lovely?" I smiled and thought: "Yes it is. It's also a Blackbird, you silly old bat!
3.A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.
4.A club, made of wood like a baseball bat or otherwise, used as a weapon
1.To flit quickly from place to place.
- I’ve spent all week batting around the country.
- The "Star" is batting along at about a mile a minute, chattering away at the chimney and snatching small coal off the shovel.
2.To hit with a bat or (figuratively) as if with a bat.
- He batted the ball away with a satisfying thwack.
- We batted a few ideas around.
3.To take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat in sports like cricket, baseball and softball, as opposed to fielding.
4.To strike or swipe as though with a bat.
- The cat batted at the toy.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3821
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
Dialectal variant of Middle English bakke, balke, of North Germanic origin (akin to dialectal Swedish natt-batta).
Perhaps compare Old Norse (leðr)blaka (literally “(leather) flapper”), from leðr + blaka (“to flap”).
Compare also Old Swedish natbakka, Old Danish nathbakkæ.