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bat

Pronunciation: /bæt/

The English word “bat” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.
  2. An old woman.
  3. A club, made of wood like a baseball bat or otherwise, used as a weapon
  4. A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.
  5. A turn at hitting the ball with a bat in a game.
  6. A player rated according to skill in batting.
  7. The piece of wood on which the spinner places the coins and then uses for throwing them.
  8. Shale or bituminous shale.
  9. A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.
  10. A part of a brick with one whole end.
  11. A stroke; a sharp blow.
  12. A stroke of work.
  13. Rate of motion; speed.
  14. A spree; a jollification; a binge, jag.
  15. Manner; rate; condition; state of health.
  16. A rough walking stick.

verb

  1. To hit with a bat or (figuratively) as if with a bat.
  2. To take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat in sports like cricket, baseball and softball, as opposed to fielding.
  3. To strike or swipe as though with a bat.
  4. To bate or flutter, as a hawk.

Etymology

Dialectal variant of Middle English bakke, balke, of North Germanic origin (akin to dialectal Swedish natt-batta). Perhaps compare Old Norse (leðr)blaka (literally “(leather) flapper”), from leðr + blaka (“to flap”). Compare also Old Swedish natbakka, Old Danish nathbakkæ.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.