Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Bat?

\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.] 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. 2. (Mining) Shale or bituminous shale. --Kirwan. 3. A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting. 4. A part of a brick with one whole end. {Bat bolt} (Machinery), a bolt barbed or jagged at its butt or tang to make it hold the more firmly. --Knight.
\Bat\, 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.
\Bat\, v. i. To use a bat, as in a game of baseball.
\Bat\, n. [Corrupt. from OE. back, backe, balke; cf. Dan. aften-bakke (aften evening), Sw. natt-backa (natt night), Icel. le[eth]r-blaka (le[eth]r leather), Icel. blaka to flutter.] (Zo["o]l.) One of the Cheiroptera, 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 {Cheiroptera} and {Vampire}. {Bat tick} (Zo["o]l.), a wingless, dipterous insect of the genus {Nycteribia}, parasitic on bats.
\Bat\, n. [Siamese.] Same as {Tical}, n., 1.
\Bat\, v. t. & i. 1. To bate or flutter, as a hawk. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] 2. To wink. [Local, U. S. & Prov Eng.]
\Bat\, n. 1. In badminton, tennis, and similar games, a racket. 2. A stroke; a sharp blow. [Colloq. or Slang] 3. A stroke of work. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.] 4. Rate of motion; speed. [Colloq.] ``A vast host of fowl . . . making at full bat for the North Sea.'' --Pall Mall Mag. 5. A spree; a jollification. [Slang, U. S.] 6. Manner; rate; condition; state of health. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.]