baton
Music. a wand used by a conductor.
a rod of lightweight metal fitted with a weighted bulb at each end and carried and twirled by a drum major or majorette.
Track. a hollow rod of wood, paper, or plastic that is passed during a race from one member of a relay team to the next in a prescribed area.
a staff, club, or truncheon, especially one serving as a mark of office or authority.
Heraldry.
a diminutive of the bend sinister, couped at the extremities: used in England as a mark of bastardy.
a similar diminutive of the ordinary bend.
Origin of baton
1Other words for baton
Words Nearby baton
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use baton in a sentence
We can witness as great a shift in presidents as we have seen since Herbert Hoover passed the baton to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Forget half-baked punditry. Watch a historic shift. | Jennifer Rubin | November 30, 2020 | Washington PostHer letter also referenced Anderson Arboleda, a 24-year-old Afro-Colombian man who died in May after a Colombian police officer allegedly struck him on the head with a baton.
Reggaeton needed a racial reckoning. Afro-Latinos are leading it. | Bethonie Butler | November 23, 2020 | Washington PostWe first saw that kind of transition back in 2009, when Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy passed the baton to Ursula Burns.
PG&E’s new CEO is the first woman to leap from top of one Fortune 500 company to another | kristenlbellstrom | November 19, 2020 | Fortune“It was the eight-year mark and the department is in a good position to pass the baton to the next generation,” Guglielmi said.
Fairfax County police chief to step down in February | Justin Jouvenal | November 5, 2020 | Washington PostThe baton then got passed again to another group, which used hundreds of thousands of medical billing data from people who either tested positive or were presumed positive for Covid-19, to verify those viral protein candidates.
Can We Wipe Out All Coronaviruses for Good? Here’s What a Group of 200 Scientists Think | Shelly Fan | October 27, 2020 | Singularity Hub
The Obama administration took up the baton in 2009 and has since become the most evidence-based administration in history.
Can the U.S. Government Go Moneyball? | Peter Orszag, Jim Nussle | December 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut the most recent poll of the race, conducted for the baton Rouge Fox affiliate, has Landrieu ahead of Cassidy 36 to 32 percent.
The trooper reached with her right hand for her expandable baton.
The Muslim Convert Behind America’s First Workplace Beheading | Michael Daly | September 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTYou see, as far as passing the baton down, Michael used to look at Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and James Brown.
Quincy Jones Talks Chicago’s Mean Streets, Why Kanye West Is No Michael Jackson, and Bieber | Marlow Stern | September 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI glimpse an alarming, finger-length aluminum baton in her bag.
Best Career Arc Ever: From Burlesque To Bartending | Anne Berry | September 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOn account of his bravery Fleetfoot was given a baton which showed that he might lead the men.
The Later Cave-Men | Katharine Elizabeth DoppBut here the Greek, whose face had crimsoned, snatched a tiny baton beside a bronze gong.
God Wills It! | William Stearns DavisThe conductor is energetic and efficient, wields his baton in a lively manner, but hits nobody with it.
Our Churches and Chapels | AtticusThis proof of confidence—the object of much secret envy—is, to women, a field-marshal's baton.
The Petty Troubles of Married Life, Complete | Honore de BalzacIn his hand he carried a short staff, or baton, with gold knobs, and he wore a thin golden circlet in his hair.
In the Wrong Paradise | Andrew Lang
British Dictionary definitions for baton
/ (ˈbætən, -tɒn) /
a thin stick used by the conductor of an orchestra, choir, etc, to indicate rhythm or expression
a short stick carried for use as a weapon, as by a policeman; truncheon
(as modifier): a baton charge
athletics a short bar carried by a competitor in a relay race and transferred to the next runner at the end of each stage
a long stick with a knob on one end, carried, twirled, and thrown up and down by a drum major or drum majorette, esp at the head of a parade
a staff or club carried by an official as a symbol of authority
heraldry a single narrow diagonal line superimposed on all other charges, esp one curtailed at each end, signifying a bastard line
Origin of baton
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for baton
A stick used by some conductors of choruses or orchestras. The baton is traditionally used to indicate the tempo of the music.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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