bat

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.

1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:

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.

2012, Suemedha Sood, (bbc.co.uk) Travelwise: Texas love bats [sic]

Any of the flying mammals of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.

"Isn't it lovely?" I smiled and thought: "Yes it is. It's also a Blackbird, you silly old bat!

2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 196:

a nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat

leaf-nosed bat*

Phyllostomidae spp. and Hipposideridae spp.

Moloney's mimic bat Mimetillus moloneyi)

蝙蝠

こうもり, kōmori, かわほり, kawahori, へんぷく, henpuku

kolf

club used for striking the ball in sports

Dialectal variant (akin to dialectal Swedish natt-batta) of Middle English bakke, balke, of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse (leðr)blaka (literally “(leather) flapper”), from leðr + blaka (“to flap”).
Compare Old Swedish natbakka, Old Danish nathbakkæ (literally “night-flapper”).


bat

A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.

You've been in for ages. Can I have a bat now?

A turn at hitting the ball with a bat in a game.

He's a good fielder and a valuable bat.

A player rated according to skill in batting.

(two-up) The piece of wood on which the spinner places the coins and then uses for throwing them.

bituminous shale ; which miners , if I mistake not , call bat

1799, Richard Kirwan, Geological Essays:

A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.

(UK, Scotland, dialect) A stroke of work.

On starting, The Nun led at a very slow pace for a quarter of a mile, when the Shrigley colt made running at a good bat.

a vast host of fowl […] making at full bat for the North Sea.

1898, unknown author, Pall Mall Magazine:

(US, slang, dated) A spree; a jollification; a binge, jag.

(UK, Scotland, dialect) Manner; rate; condition; state of health.

So ſlides he dovvne vppon his greyned bat; / And comely diſtant ſits he by her ſide, […]

1609, William Shakespeare, “A Louers Complaint”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, signature K2, verso:

From Middle English bat, batte, from Old English batt (“bat, club, cudgel”), probably of Celtic origin, compare Old Breton bath (“club, cudgel”) and modern Breton bazh (“swagger stick”), ultimately from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂- (“to strike, beat, pierce”), similar to the Gaulish source of Latin battuo (“I beat, pound”).


bat

He batted the ball away with a satisfying thwack.

We batted a few ideas around.

(transitive) To hit with a bat or (figuratively) as if with a bat.

(intransitive) To take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat in sports like cricket, baseball and softball, as opposed to fielding.

The cat batted at the toy.

(intransitive) To strike or swipe as though with a bat.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To bate or flutter, as a hawk.

en-verb

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

bats (present singular third-person)
batting (participle present)
batted (participle past)
batted (past)

kolf

intransitive: take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat

From Middle English baten (“to beat”), from Old French batre (“to beat”), from Late Latin battere, from Latin battuere; in modern English reinterpreted as a verbal derivative of Etymology 2. Compare batter, battery.


bat

to bat one’s eyelashes

I’ve spent all week batting around the country.

(intransitive, usually with ‘around’ or ‘about’) To flit quickly from place to place.


bat

Borrowed from French bât, from Old French bast, from Vulgar Latin *bastum, form of *bastāre (“to carry”), from Ancient Greek βαστάζω (bastázō, “to lift, carry”). Doublet of baton and baston.


bat

(Caribbean, MLE) Clipping of batty (“buttocks or anus”).


bat

The retailer who sells a little girl a pretty pair of shoes today instead of a pair of bats, is bound to sell that girl, when she grows up, a pair of stylish $3 or $4 shoes instead of her buying a pair of $1.98 bargain bats elsewhere.

1909, Boot and Shoe Recorder, volume 55, page 25:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A child's shoe without a welt.

(UK, slang, obsolete) A boot that is badly made or in poor condition.