bat 
bat 1 (bat), . [< ME. bat, batte s botte, the ear- 
liest recorded forms being dat. sing, bottc, noin. 
pi. bottvn (noin. sing. *bat, *bott), pointing to 
an AS. *l>at (gen. dat. *battc), given by Somner, 
but not authenticated, appar. < Ir. Gael, bat, 
bata, a staff, cudgel. But in part at least the 
word rests on OF. butte, F. battc, a rammer, a 
wand, appar. < battre, beat: see batter 1 . Some 
of the noun senses are from the verb (see bat 1 , 
v.), while others are perhaps from orig. diff. 
sources.] 1. A heavy stick or club ; formerly, 
a walking-stick. 
A handsome bat he held, 
On which he leaned, as one farre in eldo, 
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 217. 
2. The wooden club with which the players in 
base-ball, cricket, and similar games bat or 
drive the ball. That used in base-ball is a round ta- 
pering stick of varying size and weight to suit the strength 
of the player ; that used in cricket is shaped somewhat like 
the broad end of au oar, and is provided with a round 
handle. 
3. A batsman or batter. 
W. is the best bat left. 
T. Hiujhes, Tom Brown's School-Days, ii. 8. 
4. A blow as with a bat or baton : as, he re- 
ceived a bat in the face. [Colloq.] 5. A tool 
made of beech, used by plumbers in dressing 
and flatting sheet-lead. 6. A rammer used 
by founders. 7. A blade used for beating or 
scutching hemp or flax. 8. A piece of brick 
having one end entire : hence, any portion of 
a brick; a brickbat. 9. A kind of sun-dried 
brick. Southey. 10. Shale; hardened clay, 
but not fire-clay: same as bind, 2. Penn. Surv. 
Glossary. Also spelled batt. 11. In hat-mak- 
ina, a felted mass of fur, or of hair and wool. 
Two such masses are required to form the body 
of a hat. Also spelled batt. 
One half of the intended hat, called a bat, is bowed at a 
time. J. Thomson, Hats and Felting, p. 39. 
12. A continuous wad of cotton from the 
batting-machine, ready for carding; also, a 
sheet of cotton wadding or batting. See bat- 
ting. 13. In ceram. : (a) A flexible sheet of 
gelatin used in transferring impressions to the 
biscuit. 
Batt or bat is ... a plate of gelatine, used in printing 
on to pottery or porcelain, over the glaze. In bat-print- 
ing, the impression is transferred from an engraved cop- 
per plate to a bat of gelatine or glue, whence it is printed 
on the glaze, in oil or tar. Enamel powder being then 
dusted over the print, adheres to the oiled surface, and 
the porcelain is then fired at a low temperature. 
Ure, Diet., I. 298. 
(b) A shelf or slab of baked clay used to sup- 
port pieces of biscuit which have been painted, 
and are being fired again. See enamel-kiln. 
14. Bate; speed; style. [Scotch and prov. 
Eng.] At the bat, in the position of the batter or 
striker in base-ball and similar games ; having the right 
to wield the bat. To carry one's bat. See carry. To 
go on a bat, to go off for a drunken carousal or spree. 
[Slang.] 
bat 1 (bat), v. ; pret. and pp. batted, ppr. batting. 
[< late ME. batten, beat with a stick, < batte, a 
bat, stick: see bat 1 , n., and of. batter 1 . In part 
perhaps regarded as imitative of a heavy, dull 
blow; cl.pat.] I. trans. To beat ; hit ; strike. 
Especially (a) In base-ball and similar games, to knock 
or drive as the ball. (b) In ceram., to flatten out to the 
required thickness, as unbaked clay, preparatory to mold- 
imj on the block or throwing on the wheel. 
II. intrans. In base-ball and similar games, 
to strike the ball: as, he bats well To bat at 
to attempt unsuccessfully to knock, as a ball ; strike a 
but miss. 
bat 2 (bat), n. [A corruption of earlier back, 
bak, So. back, bak (also bakie-bird, bawkie-bird), 
a bat, < ME. bakke, backe, < Dan. bakke, in comp. 
aftenbakke, evening-bat, = QSw. bakka, in comp. 
natt-bakka, night-jar, Sw. dial, nattabatta, natt- 
blacka, = Icel. blaka, in comp. ledhr-blaka, bat, 
lit. leather-flapper, < blaka, flutter, flap. The 
orig. form is uncertain. Cf. ML. blatta, blacta, 
batta, a bat, another application of L. blatta, 
an insect that shuns the light, a cockroach : see 
Blatta 1 . For the change of k to t, cf . E. make 2 = 
mate 1 , and E. crae=Dan. trane, Sw. trana, Icel. 
trani. The AS. name of the bat is hreremus, 
> E. rercmouse. The G. name is fledermaus; of. 
E. flitter mouse.] A wing-handed, wing-footed 
flying mammal, of the order Chiroptera (which 
Bee). The species are upward of 450 in number, nearly 
cosmopolitan, but largest, most varied in character, and 
most abundant in individuals in tropical and subtropical 
countries. The species of temperate countries, as of the 
United States and Europe, are comparatively few, small, 
and of such uniform characters that they give little idea 
of the extent and diversity of the order in warmer re- 
gions. Bats are the most aerial or volitant of all animals, 
even more so than birds or insects, for they have scarcely 
any other means of locomotion than flying. They are 
472 
nocturnal and crepuscular, passing most of the daytime 
in dusky retreats, where they gather sometimes in almost 
incredible multitudes, and generally repose hanging head 
downward by their hind feet. In size they range from less 
than the size of a mouse to large forms with some five feet 
spread of wing. The body is usually softly furry ; the 
wings are membranous and naked. The great majority 
Hoary Bat (Lastiirut pntiitosus). 
are insectivorous and carnivorous, and constitute the sub- 
order Animalivora or Insectivora; of these, a few prey 
upon other bats, and some of the genera Dexmodus and 
Diphylla, suck the blood of large animals ; but the great 
bats of South America called vampire* are chiefly fru- 
'vorous. See Desmodonten, Vampyri. The old-world 
fruit-bats, flying-foxes, or roussettes are mostly large spe- 
cies, constituting the family I'teropodidce and suborder 
Frugivora. See cut under fying-fox. The physiognomy 
of many of the bats is grotesque, owing to the extraordi- 
nary appendages of the snout, especially in the families 
Rhinolophidce and PhyUontomatidoz, or horseshoe bats 
and leaf-nosed bats. The ears, too, are often of great size 
and much complexity of detail, and, like the various ap- 
pendages of the face, and the wing-membranes themselves, 
serve as tactile organs of extreme delicacy, even to the ex- 
tent of sensing objects without actual contact. The wings 
of bats are commonly given to representations of evil ge- 
nii and demons, as those of birds are attached to good 
angels. The large bat represented on Egyptian monu- 
ments is one of the fruit-bats, the Cynonycteria cegyptiaca. 
The Hebrew name of the bat of the Old Testament, atal- 
leph, is now used in the form Atalapha for a genus of 
American bats. The commonest species of the United 
States are the small brown bat, Vespertilio subulatus, and 
the red bat, Lasiurus noveboracensis. Among European 
species may be noted the serotine ( Vespertilio serotinus), 
the pipistrelle (V. pipistrellus), the barbastel (Barbastel- 
lus communis), the oreillard (Plecotus auritui), and the 
horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus hipposideros and R. ferroe- 
quinum). In heraldry the bat is always represented dis- 
played, that is, with the wings opened, and is often called 
by its older name reremouse. Bat's wing, in anat. See 
ala vespertilumi*, under ala. Bat's-wlng burner. See 
burner. Bulldog bats, the molossoid chiropterans. See 
Molossus. Harlequin bat. See harlequin. 
bat 3 (bat), v. t. [Variant of bate 1 , prob. now 
taken in allusion to the eyes of a bat.] To bate 
or flutter, as in the phrase to bat the eyes, that 
is, wink. [Prov. Eng. and U. S.] 
You hoi' your head high; don't you bat your eyes to 
please none of 'em. Tlie Century, XXVII. 146. 
bat* (bat or ba), n. [< F. bdt, < OF. bast, a 
pack-saddle: see basts.'] A pack-saddle: only 
in composition, as 6a<horse, oataan, etc. 
bat 5 t (bat), n. See batz. 
bat 6 (bat), n. [Hind, bat, a weight, a measure 
of weight.] Same as tical. 
bat 7 , n. A measure of land formerly used in 
South Wales ; a perch of 11 feet square. 
bat s t, n. Same as bath 2 . 
batablet(ba'ta-bl), a. [Alsobateable; short for 
debatable, as bate 3 for debate. See debatable."} 
A shortened form of debatable, as in batable 
ground, batable land. See debatable. 
As we crossed the Eatable land. Border ballad. 
batailet, bataillert, etc. Obsolete forms of 
battle 1 , battler 1 , etc. 
batara (ba-ta'ra), n. [S. Amer.] A name of 
sundry bush-shrikes or formicaroid passerine 
birds of South America, of the subfamily Tham- 
nophilina! and family Formicariida;; specifically, 
the Thamnophilus cinereus (Vieillot). it was used 
as a generic name by Lesson in 1831, and by Sclater in 1858, 
to distinguish the last-named species generically from 
other ThamnophilinfE, under the name Batara cinerea; 
also by Temminck, 1820, as a generic name of species of 
Thamnophilus proper. 
batardeau (ba-tar-do'), .; pi. batardeaux 
(-doz'). [F.j dike, dam, coffer-dam, formerly 
bastardeau, dim. of OF. bastard, dike, perhaps 
connected with bastir, build.] 1. A coffer-dam; 
a casing of piles made water-tight, fixed in the 
bed of a river to exclude the water from the 
site of the pier or other work while it is being 
constructed. 2. In fort., a wall, generally fur- 
nished with a sluice-gate, built across a moat 
or ditch, to retain the water in those parts of 
the ditch which require tp be inundated. 
batata (ba-ta'ta), n. [Sp.' Pg. batata, < Haytian 
batata, the native name of the sweet potato; 
>ult.E. potato, applied to a different plant: see 
potato.] The sweet potato. 
The product* of both China and Japan are here [Loo- 
choo] cultivated, especially batatas and the sugar-cane. 
J. J. Rein, Japan (trans.), p. 532. 
bate 
Batavian (ba-tii'vi-an), a. and u. [< L. liata- 
ria, the country of the Batavi, a people an- 
ciently inhabiting an island (Batavorum In- 
sula or Bataria) formed by the rivers Rhine, 
Waal, and Maas, and the ocean.] I. a. 1. 
Pertaining to the ancient Batavia, or by ex- 
tension to the Netherlands or their inhabi- 
tants, the Dutch. 2. Pertaining to Batavia, 
the chief city of the island of Java, and the 
capital of the Dutch possessions in the East. 
II. n. 1. A native of the Netherlands; a 
Dutchman. 2. A native of Batavia in Java. 
bat-bolt (bat'bolt), n. [< bat 1 + bolt 1 .] A 
bolt barbed or jagged at its butt or tang to 
give it a firmer hold. 
batch 1 (bach), n. [< ME. baccke, batclie, < AS. 
as if "bwcce, < bacan, bake ; cf . Dan. bcegt, G. 
geb&ck, a batch: see bake.] 1. A quantity 
produced at one operation ; specifically, the 
quantity of bread made at one baking. 2. The 
quantity of material prepared or required for 
one operation. Specifically (a) In glass-making, the 
frit ready for the glass-pot. See frit, (b) The quantity of 
flour or dough to be used at one baking, (c) The quantity 
of grain sent at one time to the mill to be ground ; a grist. 
3. An aggregation of individuals or articles 
similar to each other ; especially, a number or 
aggregation received, despatched, etc., at one 
time: as, a batch of letters; a batdi of pris- 
oners. 
The Turkish troops are being hurried to the front in 
batches of 40,000 at a time. Times (London). 
When he had her all to himself, ... he would pull out 
his last batch of sonnets, and read them in a voice tremu- 
lous with emotion. Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxvii. 
4f. Kind, sort, or lot. 
One is a rimer, sir, of your own batch, your own leaven. 
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 1. 
batch. 1 (bach), v. t. [< batch 1 , n.] To mass; 
bring together in a batch or the quantity re- 
quired. 
The white calico Is batched. Encyc. Brit., IV. 685. 
batch 2 (bach), . [E. dial. , formerly also baiche ; 
< ME. bache, bwcche, perhaps for 'becche, < AS. 
bece, basce, a brook: see beck 1 . For the trans- 
fer of sense from ' stream ' to ' bank, mound, 
vale,' cf. dike and ditch.] 1. A bank ; a sand- 
bank. 2. A field or patch of (pound lying 
near a stream ; the valley in which a stream 
flows: especially in local English names. [Lo- 
cal, Eng.] 
batch 2 (bach), v. t. [E. dial., < batch 2 , n.] To 
protect (the bank of a river) by facing it with 
stones, so as to prevent the water from eating 
into it. [Local, Eng.] 
batch 3 t, n- [Appar. an assibilated form of 
back 3 .] A vessel used in brewing. N. E. D. 
batchelor, n. See bachelor. 
bate 1 (bat), v. ; pret. and pp. bated, ppr. bating. 
[Also bait; < ME. baten (only intrans.), < OF. 
batre, mod. F. battre, beat, flap (battre les ailes, 
beat the wings, flutter ; reflex., se battre, flutter), 
= Pr. batre = Sp. batir = Pg. bater = It. bat- 
tere, beat, etc., < ML. (LL.)batere, battere, for 
L. batuere, battuere, beat, strike, whence also 
ult. E. batter 1 , battle 1 , etc., and prob. in part 
the simple baft, v. : see these words. The 
orig. sense ' beat ' is covered by bate 2 , for abate, 
and batter 1 .] I.t trans. To beat: in the phrase 
to bate the wings, to flutter, fly. [In the passage 
quoted, there is an allusion to bate 2 for abate.] 
Till the Soule by this meanes of overbodying herselfe 
. . . bated her wing apace downeward. 
Milton, Church Discipline. (JV. E. Z>.) 
U. intrans. 1. In falconry, to beat the wings 
impatiently ; flutter as preparing for flight, par- 
ticularly at the sight of prey ; flutter away. 
I am like a hawk that bates but cannot fly, because I am 
ty'd to another's flst. Bacon. 
These kites 
That bate and beat and will not be obedient. 
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 1. 
2f. To flutter; be eager or restless. 3f. To 
flutter or fly down. [With allusion to bate 2 
for abate.] 
bate 2 (bat), v. ; pret. and pp. bated, ppr. bating. 
[Early mod. E. also bait; < ME. baten, by 
apheresis for abaten, abate, which thus be- 
comes in form and in some senses identical 
with the orig. simple form represented by 
bate 1 : see abate and bate 1 .] I. trans. If. To 
beat down or away ; remove by beating. 
About autumn bate the earth from about the roots of 
olives, and lay them bare. Holland, tr. of Pliny, II. 521. 
2f. To beat back, or blunt. 
Spite of cormorant devouring Time, 
Tli' endeavour of this present breath may buy 
That honour which shall bate his scythe's keen edge. 
Shut., L. L. L., i. 1. 
