bat.
Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.
Meaning & usage
Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.
An old woman.
Where this word comes from
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.
A club, made of wood like a baseball bat or otherwise, used as a weapon
A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.
A turn at hitting the ball with a bat in a game.
You've been in for ages. Can I have a bat now?
A player rated according to skill in batting.
He's a good fielder and a valuable bat.
The piece of wood on which the spinner places the coins and then uses for throwing them.
Shale or bituminous shale.
A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.
A part of a brick with one whole end.
A stroke; a sharp blow.
A stroke of work.
Rate of motion; speed.
A spree; a jollification; a binge, jag.
Manner; rate; condition; state of health.
A rough walking stick.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂-der.? Celticder.? Old English batt Old French batteinflu. Middle English bat English bat From Middle English bat, batte, from Old English batt (“bat, club, cudgel”), probably of Celtic origin, compare Old Breton bath (“club, cudgel”) and modern Breton bazh (“swagger stick”), ultimately from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂- (“to strike, beat, pierce”), similar to the Gaulish source of Latin battuō (“to beat, pound”).
To hit with a bat or (figuratively) as if with a bat.
He batted the ball away with a satisfying thwack.
We batted a few ideas around.
To take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat in sports like cricket, baseball and softball, as opposed to fielding.
To strike or swipe as though with a bat.
The cat batted at the toy.
To bate or flutter, as a hawk.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English batten, baten (“to beat”), from Old French batre (“to beat”), from Late Latin battere, from Latin battuere, of uncertain origin; perhaps of Germanic or Celtic origin. In modern English reinterpreted as a verbal derivative of Etymology 2. Compare batter, battery.
To flutter
to bat one’s eyelashes
To wink.
To flit quickly from place to place.
I’ve spent all week batting around the country.
Where this word comes from
Possibly a variant of bate.
A packsaddle.
Where this word comes from
Borrowed from French bât, from Old French bast, from Vulgar Latin *bastum, form of *bastāre (“to carry”), from Ancient Greek βαστάζω (bastázō, “to lift, carry”). Doublet of baton and baston.
A child's shoe without a welt.
A boot that is badly made or in poor condition.
Dated form of baht (“Thai currency”).
Clipping of batty (“buttocks or anus”).
Clipping of battery.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.