at bat

[ at-bat ]

adverbBaseball.
  1. taking one's turn to bat in a game: And now Sanchez is at bat with two runners in scoring position.

nounBaseball.at-bat
  1. a player’s turn to bat, officially recorded as such unless the batter walks, is hit by a pitch, makes a sacrifice hit, or is interfered with by the catcher: In her debut appearance with the Rockford Peaches, she posted two hits in three at-bats.

Origin of at bat

1
First recorded in 1880–85

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use at bat in a sentence

Other Idioms and Phrases with at bat

at bat

Taking one's turn. For example, At this conference, with so many interruptions, it's hard to tell which speaker is at bat, or I was nervous while waiting to testify, but once at bat I felt better. This idiom, from baseball, was already being transferred to other enterprises by the 1880s. Also see on deck.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.