bat 1
(băt)n.1. A stout wooden stick; a cudgel.
2. A blow, such as one delivered with a stick.
3. Baseball A rounded, often wooden club, wider and heavier at the hitting end and tapering at the handle, used to strike the ball.
4. Sports a. A club used in cricket, having a broad, flat-surfaced hitting end and a distinct, narrow handle.
b. The racket used in various games, such as table tennis or racquets.
v. bat·ted, bat·ting, bats
v.tr.1. To hit with or as if with a bat.
2. Baseball a. To cause (a run) to be scored while at bat: batted the winning run in with a double.
b. To have (a certain percentage) as a batting average.
3. Informal To discuss or consider at length: bat an idea around.
v.intr.1. Baseball a. To use a bat.
b. To have a turn at bat.
2. Slang To wander about aimlessly.
Phrasal Verb: bat out Informal To produce in a hurried or informal manner: batted out thank-you notes all morning.
Idioms: at bat Sports Taking one's turn to bat, as in baseball or cricket.
go to bat for To give assistance to; defend.
right off the bat Without hesitation; immediately: They responded right off the bat.
[Middle English, perhaps partly of Celtic origin and partly from Old French batte, pounding implement, flail (from batre, to beat; see batter1).]
bat 2
(băt)n. Any of various nocturnal flying mammals of the order Chiroptera, having membranous wings that extend from the forelimbs to the hind limbs or tail and anatomical adaptations for echolocation, by which they navigate and hunt prey.
Idiom: have bats in (one's) belfry To behave in an eccentric, bizarre manner.
[Alteration of Middle English bakke, of Scandinavian origin.]
bat 3
(băt)tr.v. bat·ted,
bat·ting,
bats To wink or flutter: bat one's eyelashes.
Idiom: not bat an eye/eyelash Informal To show no emotion; appear unaffected: The reporter didn't bat an eyelash while reading the gruesome news.
[Probably a variant of
bate.]
bat 4
(băt)n. Slang A binge; a spree.
[Probably from batter, spree.]
BAT
abbr. Bachelor of Arts in Teaching
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.