batting
Americannoun
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the act or manner of using a bat in a game of ball.
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cotton, wool, or synthetic fibers in batts or sheets, used as filling for quilts or bedcovers.
noun
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Also called: batt. cotton or woollen wadding used in quilts, mattresses, etc
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the action of a person or team that hits with a bat, esp in cricket or baseball
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of batting
Explanation
Batting is the soft, plush material on the inside of a blanket or quilt. When you make a quilt, you sew the front to the back with a layer of batting in between. Batting is sometimes called wadding in the UK. It's usually made of cotton, and it adds thickness and warmth to a blanket. You might see batting used as imitation snow in a department store window, as well. The word comes from the now-obsolete bat, "felted mass of fur or wool," from the idea of "beaten" or "batted" fabric.
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.
See Examples For:
He also had 560 doubles, 1,518 RBIs and 94 stolen bases while posting a career .290 batting average over 17 seasons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
His career batting average to that point was .000—he went 0 for 12 in a brief stint with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2025.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Kent, as always, was consistent at the plate, batting .280, but he also sustained a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery and sidelined him for almost all of September.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Nine wickets for 99 runs might be the most consequential batting collapse in English cricketing history, with aftershocks still being felt seven months later.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
I spot Brayden’s dad’s car pulling into a spot and start walking around the far side of the batting cages until I reach the end of the fence down the left-field line.
From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner
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Ms. Kokoszka described the members as having “unselfishly donated their time, talents, fabrics, battings, backings, bindings and labels for the making of the quilts each of our honored guests will receive tonight.”
From Washington Times ● Oct. 24, 2020
The floors were four inches deep with dirt and cotton battings and scraps of linings.
From White Slaves; or, the Oppression of the Worthy Poor by Banks, Louis Albert
Spoolers, weavers, slubbers, warpers, nearly grown but all hard-faced, listless—and many of them slept on shawls and battings of cotton.
From The Bishop of Cottontown A Story of the Southern Cotton Mills by Moore, John Trotwood
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.