bat

n. [ OE. batte, botte, AS. batt; perhaps fr. the Celtic; cf. Ir. bat, bata, stick, staff; but cf. also F. batte a beater (thing), wooden sword, battre to beat. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A large stick; a club; specifically, a piece of wood with one end thicker or broader than the other, used in playing baseball, cricket, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In badminton, tennis, and similar games, a racket. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

3. A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A part of a brick with one whole end; a brickbat. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

5. (Mining) Shale or bituminous shale. Kirwan. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A stroke; a sharp blow. [ Colloq. or Slang ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

7. A stroke of work. [ Scot. & Prov. Eng. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

8. Rate of motion; speed. [ Colloq. ] “A vast host of fowl . . . making at full bat for the North Sea.” Pall Mall Mag. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

9. A spree; a jollification. [ Slang, U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

10. Manner; rate; condition; state of health. [ Scot. & Prov. Eng. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Bat bolt (Machinery), a bolt barbed or jagged at its butt or tang to make it hold the more firmly. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Corrupt. from OE. back, backe, balke; cf. Dan. aften-bakke (aften evening), Sw. natt-backa (natt night), Icel. leðr-blaka (leðr leather), Icel. blaka to flutter. ] (Zool.) One of the Chiroptera, an order of flying mammals, in which the wings are formed by a membrane stretched between the elongated fingers, legs, and tail. The common bats are small and insectivorous. See Chiroptera and Vampire. [ 1913 Webster ]

Silent bats in drowsy clusters cling. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bat tick (Zool.), a wingless, dipterous insect of the genus Nycteribia, parasitic on bats. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To use a bat, as in a game of baseball; when used with a numerical postmodifier it indicates a baseball player's performance (as a decimal) at bat; as, he batted .270 in 1993 (i.e. he got safe hits in 27 percent of his official turns at bat). [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

v. t. & i. 1. To bate or flutter, as a hawk. [ Obs. or Prov. Eng. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. To wink. [ Local, U. S. & Prov Eng. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Batted p. pr. & vb. n. Batting. ] To strike or hit with a bat or a pole; to cudgel; to beat. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Abbrev. from debatable. ] Disputable. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The border land between England and Scotland, being formerly a subject of contention, was called batable or debatable ground. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Embattled. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] 1. A cofferdam. Brande & C. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mil.) A wall built across the ditch of a fortification, with a sluice gate to regulate the height of water in the ditch on both sides of the wall. [ 1913 Webster ]