bats

[ bats ]

/ bæts /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bats ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective Slang.

insane; crazy: He's gone bats.

Nearby words

Origin of bats

First recorded in 1915–20; see origin at bat², -s³

bat

[ bat ]

/ bæt /

noun

Sports.

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.

verb (used with object), bat·ted, bat·ting.

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.

verb (used without object), bat·ted, bat·ting.

Sports.

to strike at the ball with the bat.
to take one's turn as a batter.

Slang. to rush.

Verb Phrases

bat around,

Slang. to roam; drift.
Informal. to discuss or ponder; debate: We batted the idea around.
Baseball. to have every player in the lineup take a turn at bat during a single inning.

bat in, Baseball. to cause (a run) to be scored by getting a hit: He batted in two runs with a double to left.

bat out, to do, write, produce, etc., hurriedly: I have to bat out a term paper before class.

Origin of bat

1175–1225; (noun) Middle English bat, bot, batte, Old English batt, perhaps < Celtic; compare Irish, Scots Gaelic bat, bata staff, cudgel; (v.) Middle English batten, partly from the noun, partly < Old French batre; see batter¹

SYNONYMS FOR bat

10. knock, wallop, swat, smack, sock, slug; clout, clobber.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bat ON THESAURUS.COM

bat

[ bat ]

/ bæt /

noun

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

1570–75; apparently < Scandinavian; compare dialectal Swedish natt-batta, variant of Old Swedish natt-bakka night-bat; replacing Middle English bakke (< Scand), Middle English balke for *blake < Scandinavian; compare dialectal Swedish natt-blacka

Related formsbat·like, adjective

bat

[ bat ]

/ bæt /

verb (used with object), bat·ted, bat·ting.

to blink; wink; flutter.

Origin of bat

First recorded in 1605–15; variant of bate²

batt

or bat

[ bat ]

/ bæt /

noun

a sheet of matted cotton, wool, or synthetic fibers.

Origin of batt

First recorded in 1830–40; special use of bat¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bats

Images of the hotel crop up repeatedly in his paintings, sometimes plagued by bats or monsters.
‘All Good Cretins Go to Heaven’: Dee Dee Ramone’s Twisted Punk Paintings|Melissa Leon|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Also due to their unusual immune system, bats can remain healthy and able to travel even while infected.
Bats’ Link to Ebola Finally Solved|Carrie Arnold|November 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Bats are crucial to the ecosystem, performing extremely valuable jobs like pollination and insect control.
Bats’ Link to Ebola Finally Solved|Carrie Arnold|November 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Scientists increasingly began hunting for viruses in bats—and finding them.
Bats’ Link to Ebola Finally Solved|Carrie Arnold|November 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST

While the bats are infected, they shed large quantities of virus that can infect other animals.
Bats’ Link to Ebola Finally Solved|Carrie Arnold|November 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If bats flutter and beetles fly about, there will be fine weather.
Harper's Round Table, July 30, 1895|Various
She was pursuing the huge butterflies with her apron, having taken them at first for bats.
Social Life in the Insect World|J. H. Fabre
Sheer up from the river's side they lifted their heads like old Venetian palaces abandoned to the bats.
The Conquest|Eva Emery Dye
I also wanted to make the acquaintance of the bats or flying foxes I had seen rising in clouds every evening at sunset.
The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont|Louis de Rougemont
Sometimes the partridges run between the ricks, and when the bats come out of the roof, leverets play in the waggon-track.
The Pageant of Summer|Richard Jefferies

British Dictionary definitions for bats

bats

/ (bæts) /

adjective

informal crazy; very eccentric

Word Origin for bats

from bats-in-the-belfry (sense 2)

batt

/ (bæt) /

noun

textiles another word for batting (def. 1)

Australian and NZ a slab-shaped piece of insulating material used in building houses

bat

/ (bæt) /

noun

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; pacethey 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

verb bats, batting or batted

(tr) to strike with or as if with a bat

(intr) sport (of a player or a team) to take a turn at batting

Word Origin for bat

Old English batt club, probably of Celtic origin; compare Gaelic bat, Russian bat

bat

/ (bæt) /

noun

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

Derived Formsbatlike, adjective

Word Origin for bat

C14 bakke, probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse ledhrblaka leather-flapper, Swedish dialect natt-batta night bat

bat

/ (bæt) /

verb bats, batting or batted (tr)

to wink or flutter (one's eyelids)

not bat an eye or not bat an eyelid informal to show no surprise or concern

Word Origin for bat

C17: probably a variant of bate ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bats

bat

v.2

"to hit with a bat," mid-15c., from bat (n.1). Related: Batted; batting.

bat

n.1

"a stick, a club," Old English *batt "cudgel," perhaps from Celtic (cf. Irish and Gaelic bat, bata "staff, cudgel"), influenced by Old French batte, from Late Latin battre "beat;" all from PIE root *bhat- "to strike." Also "a lump, piece" (mid-14c.), as in brickbat. As a kind of paddle used to play cricket, it is attested from 1706.

Phrase right off the bat is 1888, also hot from the bat (1888), probably a baseball metaphor, but cricket is possible as a source; there is an early citation from Australia (in an article about slang): "Well, it is a vice you'd better get rid of then. Refined conversation is a mark of culture. Let me hear that kid use slang again, and I'll give it to him right off the bat. I'll wipe up the floor with him. I'll ---" ["The Australian Journal," November 1888].

bat

n.2

flying mammal (order Chiroptera), 1570s, a dialectal alteration of Middle English bakke (early 14c.), which is probably related to Old Swedish natbakka, Old Danish nathbakkæ "night bat," and Old Norse leðrblaka "leather flapper," so original sense is likely "flapper." The shift from -k- to -t- may have come through confusion of bakke with Latin blatta "moth, nocturnal insect."

Old English word for the animal was hreremus, from hreran "to shake" (see rare (adj.2)), and rattle-mouse is attested from late 16c., an old dialectal word for "bat." As a contemptuous term for an old woman, perhaps a suggestion of witchcraft (cf. fly-by-night), or from bat as "prostitute who plies her trade by night" [Farmer, who calls it "old slang" and finds French equivalent "night swallow" (hirondelle de nuit) "more poetic"].

bat

v.1

"to move the eyelids," 1847, American English, from earlier sense of "flutter as a hawk" (1610s), a variant of bate (v.2) on the notion of fluttering wings. Related: Batted; batting.

Idioms and Phrases with bats

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.

bats

adjective Slang.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of bats

bat

noun

verb (used with object), bat·ted, bat·ting.

verb (used without object), bat·ted, bat·ting.

Verb Phrases

Origin of bat

bat

noun

Origin of bat

bat

verb (used with object), bat·ted, bat·ting.

Origin of bat

batt

or bat

noun

Origin of batt

Examples from the Web for bats

bats

adjective

Word Origin for bats

batt

noun

bat

noun

verb bats, batting or batted

Word Origin for bat

bat

noun

Word Origin for bat

bat

verb bats, batting or batted (tr)

Word Origin for bat

bat

bat

bat

bat

bat