See Also:

bat(1) (iou)



bat noun1. [bat] In sense 9 also batt. LOE.
[Perh. partly from Old & mod. French batte, from batre: see BATTER verb1; sense 6 from BAT verb2. Branch III of unkn. origin.]
I.
A club, a cudgel; a stick or staff for support or defence. Now arch. & dial. LOE.
Spenser A handsome bat he held, On which he leaned. Sir W. Scott I have given up..my bat for a sword.
An implement with a rounded (usu. wooden) handle and a solid head, for striking a ball in cricket, rounders, baseball, table tennis, etc. E17.
at bat Baseball taking one's turn at batting (see also AT-BAT). beat the bat: see BEAT verb1 5. carry one's bat, carry the bat Cricket be not out at the end of a side's completed innings (esp. after having batted throughout the innings). dead bat: see DEAD adjective & adverb. hang one's bat out to dry: see HANG verb. off one's own bat fig. unaided, on one's own initiative. right off the bat fig. (N. Amer.) immediately.
b. An object like a table-tennis bat used to guide aircraft taxiing. Usu. in pl. M20.
A person who uses a bat in cricket etc.; a batter, a batsman. M18.
E. Linklater He was an accomplished bat and..fielded boldly at cover-point.
II.
A firm blow as with a staff, club, etc. LME.
Rate of stroke or step; pace, speed. dial. & slang. E19.
J. Welcome We turned on to the main..road and started going a hell of a bat across the Cotswolds.
A movement of the eyelids, a blink. M20.
C. Fry We were at the boy in the bat of an eye.
III.
a. A lump, a piece. Long obsolete in gen. sense exc. in bits and bats (see BIT noun2). LME.
b. spec. A piece of brick with one end entire. obsolete exc. in brickbat (see BRICK noun). E16.
c. Pottery. A small piece of baked ware separating pieces of biscuit ware in the kiln; a flattened-out piece of unfired clay. E19.
Shale interstratified between seams of coal, iron ore, etc. L17.
Hat-making. A felted mass. M19.
Comb.: batboy Baseball a boy or youth who looks after the bats of a team etc.; bat-fowling catching birds by night using lights to dazzle them.