bat around

verb

1. slang,  (tr, adverb) to discuss (an idea, proposition, etc) informally

2. Also: bat along. dialect,  (intr) to wander or move about

Idioms and Phrases

Hit something around, often with a baseball bat or other object, as in We batted the tennis ball around this morning . Originating in baseball, this term came to be applied to more violent action as well, as in Jerry left after being batted around by his father . [ Slang ; first half of 1900s]

Discuss or debate something, as in We batted the various plans around for at least an hour before we came to a decision . This usage transfers batting a ball to a back-and-forth exchange of ideas. [ Slang ; late 1800s]

Drift aimlessly, roam, as in After graduating, they batted around Europe for a year . [ Slang ; c. 1900]

Example Sentences

The Rams had dropped to 4-5 when Arteta booked a last-minute visit to California and sat down with McVay to bat around wisdom on responding to adversity.

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Judge brought his hands in, whipped his bat around and somehow connected.

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In classrooms and bars, at meals and department meetings, Alma and her colleagues bat around 12-letter words and sophisticated in-jokes, with Garfield’s cocky blue-collar-born Hank wisecracking that “Hegel couldn’t control Little Hegel” to a crowd that’s well-aware the 19th century philosopher had an illegitimate son with his Bavarian landlady.

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As you bat around innocuous topics like the weather, the latest football score or that TV show’s finale, you gauge how the person responds.

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There’s something sort of dutiful about the show’s sociopolitical humor, such as it is, which exists more to give the characters something to bat around than to say anything substantial about How We Ought to Live Now.

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