bat
1Sports.
the wooden club used in certain games, as baseball and cricket, to strike the ball.
a racket, especially one used in badminton or table tennis.
a whip used by a jockey.
the act of using a club or racket in a game.
the right or turn to use a club or racket.
a heavy stick, club, or cudgel.
Informal. a blow, as with a bat.
any fragment of brick or hardened clay.
Masonry. a brick cut transversely so as to leave one end whole.
British Slang. speed; rate of motion or progress, especially the pace of the stroke or step of a race.
Slang. a spree; binge: to go on a bat.
Ceramics.
a sheet of gelatin or glue used in bat printing.
a slab of moist clay.
a ledge or shelf in a kiln.
a slab of plaster for holding a piece being modeled or for absorbing excess water from slip.
batt.
to strike or hit with or as if with a bat or club.
Baseball. to have a batting average of; hit: He batted .325 in spring training.
Sports.
to strike at the ball with the bat.
to take one's turn as a batter.
bat out, to do, write, produce, etc., hurriedly: I have to bat out a term paper before class.
Idioms about bat
at bat, Baseball. See entry at at bat.
bat the breeze. breeze1 (def. 11).
go to bat for, Informal. to intercede for; vouch for; defend: to go to bat for a friend.
right off the bat, Informal. at once; without delay: They asked me to sing right off the bat.
Origin of bat
1Other words for bat
Words Nearby bat
Other definitions for bat (2 of 4)
any of numerous flying mammals of the order Chiroptera, of worldwide distribution in tropical and temperate regions, having modified forelimbs that serve as wings and are covered with a membranous skin extending to the hind limbs.
Origin of bat
2Other words from bat
- batlike, adjective
Other definitions for bat (3 of 4)
Origin of bat
3Other definitions for bat. (4 of 4)
battalion.
battery.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use bat in a sentence
We can’t hear things that dogs can hear, we can’t see things that bats can see.
Talking Is Throwing Fictional Worlds at One Another - Issue 89: The Dark Side | Kevin Berger | September 9, 2020 | NautilusWhen Lou Brock, who died Sunday at age 81, came up to bat, I booed him because, well, he was on the other team.
The complaints of the entitled workers of Silicon Valley | Adam Lashinsky | September 8, 2020 | FortuneHe and his team located three bat colonies, each with 200 or more bats, and smeared the backs of 20 to 60 animals in each colony with a gel containing a biomarker that made their hair fluoresce if they ingested it.
Can Vaccines for Wildlife Prevent Human Pandemics? | Rodrigo Pérez Ortega | August 24, 2020 | Quanta MagazineUpon the animal’s return to its colony, other bats would groom it and get exposed to the vaccine too.
Can Vaccines for Wildlife Prevent Human Pandemics? | Rodrigo Pérez Ortega | August 24, 2020 | Quanta MagazineThat’s because these digital titles have the existing audiences from their other verticals that the new vertical can appeal to off the bat.
‘Not a simple adjacency strategy’: How Group Nine is selling advertisers on bigger and longer editorial deals | Kayleigh Barber | August 21, 2020 | Digiday
Instead, he gives his very best effort and tries to win the World Series with a single swing of his bat.
After Torture Report, Our Moral Authority As a Nation Is Gone | Nick Gillespie | December 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTRight off the bat, papyrologist Brice C. Jones noted that something was awry.
Dismembering History: The Shady Online Trade in Ancient Texts | Candida Moss | November 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt can be really good if somebody is an amazing talent right off the bat or it can highlight your flaws.
Inside ‘The Sex Factor’: Where 16 Men and Women Vie For Porn Immortality | Aurora Snow | November 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut she was very abusive to the girls, with punishments ranging from being called ugly to getting beaten with a baseball bat.
Azealia Banks Opens Up About Her Journey from Stripping to Rap Stardom | Marlow Stern | November 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAs a result, many bat species are finding their homes and food sources gone.
After a few seconds of listening bat nodded vigorously, and closed the door.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. SinclairWhen the first sunbeam gleamed through the window of bat's tiny kitchen, I arose, pulled on my boots and went to feed my horse.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. SinclairA little later bat spread a bed for me on the kitchen floor, and I turned in.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. SinclairHe's very tall an' gran', an' w'ars fine close, an' han's is white as a cotton bat, but his eyes doan set right in his head.
The Cromptons | Mary J. HolmesBlack Hood sprang out from the pole, swooped down upon the messenger like a huge black bat.
British Dictionary definitions for bat (1 of 3)
/ (bæt) /
any of various types of club with a handle, used to hit the ball in certain sports, such as cricket, baseball, or table tennis
a flat round club with a short handle, resembling a table-tennis bat, used by a man on the ground to guide the pilot of an aircraft when taxiing
cricket short for batsman
any stout stick, esp a wooden one
informal a blow from such a stick
Australian a small board used for tossing the coins in the game of two-up
US and Canadian slang a drinking spree; binge
slang speed; rate; pace: they went at a fair bat
another word for batting (def. 1)
carry one's bat cricket (of an opening batsman) to reach the end of an innings without being dismissed
off one's own bat
of one's own accord; without being prompted by someone else
by one's own unaided efforts
off the bat or right off the bat US and Canadian informal immediately; without hesitation
(tr) to strike with or as if with a bat
(intr) sport (of a player or a team) to take a turn at batting
Origin of bat
1- See also bat around
British Dictionary definitions for bat (2 of 3)
/ (bæt) /
any placental mammal of the order Chiroptera, being a nocturnal mouselike animal flying with a pair of membranous wings (patagia). The group is divided into the Megachiroptera (fruit bats) and Microchiroptera (insectivorous bats): Related adjective: chiropteran
slang an irritating or eccentric woman (esp in the phrase old bat)
blind as a bat having extremely poor eyesight
have bats in the belfry or have bats in one's belfry informal to be mad or eccentric; have strange ideas
like a bat out of hell slang very quickly
Origin of bat
2Derived forms of bat
- batlike, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for bat (3 of 3)
/ (bæt) /
to wink or flutter (one's eyelids)
not bat an eye or not bat an eyelid informal to show no surprise or concern
Origin of bat
3Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with bat
In addition to the idioms beginning with bat
- bat an eye
- bat around
- bat one thousand
- bats in one's belfry, have
- bat the breeze
also see:
- at bat
- blind as a bat
- bats in one's belfry
- go to bat for
- like a bat out of hell
right off the bat.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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