bats

American

[bats] / bæts /

adjective

Slang.

insane; crazy.

He's gone bats.

bats British

/ bæts /

adjective

informal crazy; very eccentric

"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

Etymology

Origin of bats

First recorded in 1915–20; see origin at bat ², -s ³

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:

bats

Locals have volunteered to scour for rare bats in the woods in the hope of blocking the development on environmental grounds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

That ability allows healthy bats to host an extraordinary variety of viruses.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026

These bats are especially interesting because closely related species can have dramatically different lifespans.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026

Vazquez compares the nightly flights bats make while hunting insects to running several ultramarathons every day.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026

When bats started flying around at dusk, he got scared and went on home.

From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023