bat around
Britishverb
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slang (tr, adverb) to discuss (an idea, proposition, etc) informally
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Also: bat along. dialect (intr) to wander or move about
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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]
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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]
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Drift aimlessly, roam, as in After graduating, they batted around Europe for a year . [ Slang ; c. 1900]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Judge brought his hands in, whipped his bat around and somehow connected.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 8, 2025
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.
From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2025
But it can’t get its bat around fast enough to connect.
From New York Times • Aug. 12, 2022
“There are a lot of people here you can gut check with and bat around ideas,” Psaki said in an interview on her last day in the White House.
From Seattle Times • May 16, 2022
A few neighborhood friends and I used to bat around the birdie for fun after school.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
