bat

Abbreviation of English Baltic.

bat

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-5 language code for Baltic languages.

• enPR: băt, IPA^(key): /bæt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æt

Dialectal variant (akin to dialectal Swedish natt-batta) of Middle English bakke, balke, of North Germanic origin. Perhaps compare Old Norse (leðr)blaka (literally “(leather) flapper”), from leðr + blaka (“to flap”).

Compare Old Swedish natbakka, Old Danish nathbakkæ.

bat (plural bats)

2. Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.

   Synonyms: chiropter, chiropteran, flindermouse, flitterbat, flittermouse, fluttermouse, flying mouse, rattlemouse, reremouse

   • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:

     The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.

   • 2012, Suemedha Sood, (bbc.co.uk) Travelwise: Texas love bats [sic]

     As well as being worth millions of dollars to the Texan agriculture industry, these mammals are worth millions of dollars to the state’s tourism industry. Texas is home to the world’s largest known bat colony (in Comal County), and the world’s largest urban bat colony (in Austin). Bat watching is a common activity, with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department offering more bat-viewing sites than anywhere else in the US.

4. (derogatory) An old woman.
   • 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 196:

     "Isn't it lovely?" I smiled and thought: "Yes it is. It's also a Blackbird, you silly old bat!

• Appendix:Animals
• Appendix:English collective nouns

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 battuo (“I beat, pound”).^[1]

bat (plural bats)

1. A club, made of wood like a baseball bat or otherwise, used as a weapon
3. A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.
4. A turn at hitting the ball with a bat in a game.

   You've been in for ages. Can I have a bat now?

5. A player rated according to skill in batting.

   He's a good fielder and a valuable bat.

6. (two-up) The piece of wood on which the spinner places the coins and then uses for throwing them.^[2]

   Synonyms: kip, kylie, lannet, stick

7. (mining) Shale or bituminous shale.
   • 1799, Richard Kirwan, Geological Essays:

     bituminous shale ; which miners , if I mistake not , call bat

8. A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.
9. A part of a brick with one whole end.
10. A stroke; a sharp blow.
11. (UK, Scotland, dialect) A stroke of work.
12. (informal) Rate of motion; speed.
    • 1842, Sporting Magazine, page 251:

      On starting, The Nun led at a very slow pace for a quarter of a mile, when the Shrigley colt made running at a good bat.

    • 1898, unknown author, Pall Mall Magazine:

      a vast host of fowl […] making at full bat for the North Sea.

13. (US, slang, dated) A spree; a jollification; a binge, jag.
14. (UK, Scotland, dialect) Manner; rate; condition; state of health.
15. (Kent, Sussex) A rough walking stick.^[3][4]
    • 1609, William Shakespeare, “A Louers Complaint”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, signature K2, verso:

      So ſlides he dovvne vppon his greyned bat; / And comely diſtant ſits he by her ſide, […]

• (two-up): kip, stick, kylie, lannet

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.

bat (third-person singular simple present bats, present participle batting, simple past and past participle batted)

1. (transitive) 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.

3. (intransitive) To take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat in sports like cricket, baseball and softball, as opposed to fielding.
4. (intransitive) To strike or swipe as though with a bat.

   The cat batted at the toy.

5. (UK, dialect, obsolete) To bate or flutter, as a hawk.

Possibly a variant of bate.

bat (third-person singular simple present bats, present participle batting, simple past and past participle batted)

1. (transitive) To flutter

   to bat one’s eyelashes

2. (US, UK, dialect) To wink.
3. (intransitive, usually with ‘around’ or ‘about’) To flit quickly from place to place.

   I’ve spent all week batting around the country.

   • 1956 February, W. A. Tuplin, “Hot Work on a "Star"”, in Railway Magazine, page 88:

     The "Star" is batting along at about a mile a minute, chattering away at the chimney and snatching small coal off the shovel.

Most commonly used in the phrase bat an eye, and variants thereof.

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.

bat (plural bats)

1. (obsolete) A packsaddle.

• batman

bat

1. Dated form of baht (“Thai currency”).

bat (plural bats)

1. (Caribbean, MLE) Clipping of batty (“buttocks or anus”).

bat (plural bats)

1. (UK, dialect, obsolete) A child's shoe without a welt.
   • 1909, Boot and Shoe Recorder, volume 55, page 25:

     The retailer who sells a little girl a pretty pair of shoes today instead of a pair of bats, is bound to sell that girl, when she grows up, a pair of stylish $3 or $4 shoes instead of her buying a pair of $1.98 bargain bats elsewhere.

2. (UK, slang, obsolete) A boot that is badly made or in poor condition.

• (child's shoe; boot): J. Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary
• (boot): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary

bat (plural bats)

2. (slang) Clipping of battery.

   Alternative form: batt

   • 1997 November 30, renovations@usa.net [Sherry Edwards], “FS----Great Xmas Gifts”, in van.forsale‎^[2] (Usenet), archived from the original on 9 September 2025:

     All these things must sell... […] * Motorola Cell phone bat/case/no contract

   • 1999 February 16, Death to Spammers!!!, “Palm V Sneak Preview - Review with Pictures”, in comp.sys.palmtops.pilot‎^[3] (Usenet), archived from the original on 9 September 2025:

     [T]he razor was allways^[sic] planed^[sic] to be a thinner PalmIII with Li-Ion bat and a better LCD (i.e. less glare and more contrast)... […] You can replace it in the same way than^[sic] the Cell Phone bat's...very easy !!!

   • 2000 June 30, Steve Perry, “cheapest place for laptop bat?”, in england.ads.computer‎^[4] (Usenet), archived from the original on 9 September 2025:

     where is cheapest place to buy laptop batt?

   • 2002 September 1, gofast, “f.S Computer stuff”, in kingston.forsale‎^[5] (Usenet), archived from the original on 9 September 2025:

     1 toshiba^[sic] t2450ct laptop bat does not work but fine on power supply.

   • 2003 July 7, 1234, “Wanted dead laptop bat packs for IBM”, in calgary.forsale‎^[6] (Usenet), archived from the original on 9 September 2025:

     I am looking for dead battery packs for the IBM 700 series.

   • 2005 January 10, Richard, “laptop batteries”, in wpg.computers.help‎^[7] (Usenet), archived from the original on 9 September 2025:

     The retail for my laptop bat in Wpg was around $300 and I got it for around $125 canadian.^[sic]

• bat chayil
• bat mitzvah
• bits and bats

• ABT, ATB, B.T.A., BTA, TBA, Tab, abt, abt., tab

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *N-pat.

• (Myanmar) /bat˧/
• (Lianghe) [pa³¹]
• (Longchuan) [pat³⁵]
• (Luxi) [pat³¹]
• (Xiandao) [pat⁵⁵]

bat

1. to strike, hit, beat

• Inglis, Douglas; Sampu, Nasaw; Jaseng, Wilai; Jana, Thocha (2005), A preliminary Ngochang–Kachin–English Lexicon‎^[8], Payap University, pages 10-11

• batu

From Latin battō, from earlier battuō. Compare Daco-Romanian bat, bate.

bat (third-person singular bati or bate, participle bãtutã)

1. to beat, hit, strike
2. to defeat

• (beat): agudescu
• (defeat): azvingu

• batiri/batire
• bãteri
• bãtut
• bãtutã
• strãbat

From a reduced form of Proto-Basque *bade (“one, some”), present also in bederatzi (“nine”) and bedera (“same; everyone”).^[1][2][3] Compared by Eduardo Orduña and Joan Ferrer to Iberian ban (“one”).^[4][5]

• IPA^(key): /bat/ [bat̪]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -at
• Hyphenation: bat

bat (postposed)

1. a, an, some

   musu bat

   a kiss

2. (after a numeral) some, about, around

   Bidaiak hamar bat ordu iraungo du.

   The trip will take around ten hours.

3. the same

• The determiner doesn't take the definite singular form.

Basque numbers ^(edit)

		10
	[a], [b] ←  0	1	2  →	10  →
Cardinal: bat     Ordinal: lehen     Multiplier: bakoitz     Distributive: bana

bat

1. one

   Sagar bat eta lau laranja.

   One apple and four oranges.

• The declension table shown in this section only applies when bat is used as a noun (usually when referring to the number itself). For other uses see the other declension tables.

bat (indefinite)

1. some, something, someone

• When used as a pronoun, the definite form bata is more common in Southern dialects.

• “bat zenbatzailea”, in Euskara Batuaren Eskuliburua [Handbook of Standard Basque], Euskaltzaindia, 2023
• “bat zenbatzailea / -a artikulua (batzuk/-ak)”, in Euskara Batuaren Eskuliburua [Handbook of Standard Basque], Euskaltzaindia, 2023
• “bat”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbat]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -at

Deverbal from batre.

bat m (plural bats)

1. a place exposed to the elements

   Synonyms: batent, baterell

bat

1. inflection of batre:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Borrowed from English bat.

bat m (plural bats)

1. (baseball) bat

• batada

• batedor

“bat”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

• IPA^(key): /ˈbat/ [ˈbat̪]

bat

1. alternative form of balat

• IPA^(key): [ˈb̥ad̥]

From English bat.

bat n (singular definite battet, plural indefinite bat or bats)

1. bat (a club for striking a ball)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bat

1. imperative of batte

• IPA^(key): /ba/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Homophones: bats (general), bât, bâts, bas (some speakers)

bat

1. third-person singular present indicative of battre

• bat les couilles (“not give a fuck”)

• t.a.b.

• IPA^(key): /baːt/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːt
• Homophones: Bad (standard, but not universal), Bart (some speakers)

bat

1. first/third-person singular preterite of bitten

From French battre (“beat”).

• IPA^(key): /bat/

bat

1. to spank, to beat

• Targète, Jean; Urciolo, Raphael (1993), Haitian Creole-English Dictionary‎^[9], Dunwoody Press, →ISBN, page 21

Borrowed from English bus.

bat

1. (Singapore Hokkien) bus
   • 2018, 欢喜就好 [Happy Can Already]‎^[10], season 4, episode 5, spoken by 梁婆婆 [Liang Po Po] (梁志强 [Jack Neo]):

     聽講這擺搭bat啊，也是真正方便啦乎 [Hokkien, trad.]
     听讲这摆搭bat啊，也是真正方便啦乎 [Hokkien, simp.]

     thiaⁿ-kóng chit-pái tah ba̍t--ah, ā-sī chin-chiàⁿ hong-piān--lah--hohⁿ [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     I heard these days, taking the bus is quite convenient

For pronunciation and definitions of bat – see 捌 (“to know; to recognise; to be familiar with”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 捌).

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈbat/ [ˈbat̪̚]
• Rhymes: -at
• Syllabification: bat

bat

1. (slang) syncopic form of banget

• IPA^(key): /ˈbat/
• Hyphenation: bat

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

bat (plural bat dem, quantified bat)

1. moth (nocturnal insect)

   Duppy bat still a fly like hawk.

   Black witch moths are still flying around like hawks.

   • 2003, Amber Wilson, Jamaica: The Land (in English), page 30:

     “Hundreds of species of butterflies and moths live in Jamaica. Jamaicans call large moths "bats." The black witch moth is known as "the duppy bat." A duppy is a spirit in Jamaican culture that sometimes causes mischief. Duppy bats have brown [...]”

• dunce bat
• duppy bat

From English bat.

bat (plural bat dem, quantified bat)

1. bat (instrument for hitting or striking)

   When yu get one lick from me wid di bat... yu wi know.

   If I hit you once with this bat, you'll understand.

• old bat

• Richard Allsopp, editor (1996), Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 83
• bat – jamaicans.com Jamaican Patois dictionary

Borrowed from Burmese ပတ် (pat).

bat

1. week

• Kurabe, Keita (31 December 2016), “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research‎^[11], volume 35, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 91–128

bat (plural bede)

1. arm

• IPA^(key): /bat/

From Old Dutch *bath, from Proto-West Germanic *baþ.

bat n

1. bath

• Dutch: bad
• Limburgish: baad

From Old Dutch *bat, *bet, from Proto-Germanic *batiz.

bat

1. better; comparative degree of wel

   Synonym: beter

• bet

• Dutch: bet (still as simplex in Early Modern Dutch, now fossilized in e.g. in betweter (“know-it-all”))

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bat

1. first/third-person singular past indicative of bidden

• “bat (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “bat (III)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “bat (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “bet (III)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page bet

From Old English batt, from Celtic; influenced by Old French batte.

• batt, batte, bot

• IPA^(key): /bat/, /bɔt/

bat (plural battes or botten)

1. A mace, bat, or morningstar (blunt weapon)
2. (rare) A pole or stick used for other
3. (rare, Late Middle English) A strike or hit from a weapon.
4. (rare, Late Middle English) A clump of soft material.

• English: bat, batt
• Scots: bat
• Yola: bath, bat
• → Irish: bata
• → Scottish Gaelic: bata

• “bat, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 16 July 2018.

bat

1. (Northern) alternative form of bot (“boat”)

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈbaːt/

bāt

1. alternative form of badete

From Proto-West Germanic *bait.

• IPA^(key): /bɑːt/

bāt m

1. boat

Strong a-stem:

Occasionally appears as feminine: Strong ō-stem:

• bot, bote

Borrowed from Old English bāt and Middle English bot.

bat oblique singular, m (oblique plural batz, nominative singular batz, nominative plural bat)

1. boat

• Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “bat”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC.

• IPA^(key): /bad̪/

bat

1. inflection of is:
   1. third-person plural imperative
   2. third-person plural present subjunctive

• IPA^(key): /ˈbat/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -at
• Syllabification: bat
• Homophones: bad, Bat

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *batъ.

bat m inan (diminutive bacik)

1. whip (rod for beating)

   Synonym: bicz

2. (slang) joint (marijuana cigarette)
3. (in the plural) whipping, lash (type of corporal punishment)

   Synonyms: bicie, cięgi, knoty, lanie, wały

4. (in the plural, literary) reproof (criticizing)

   Synonym: cięgi

5. (in the plural, literary) whipping, licking, beating (heavy defeat or setback)

   Synonym: cięgi

Either borrowed from Swedish bat^[1] or Italian batto.^[2]

bat m inan

1. bateau (type of boat)

Borrowed from Thai บาท (bàat), from Sanskrit पाद (pāda).

bat m animal

1. baht (currency of Thailand)

• bat in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• bat in Polish dictionaries at PWN

bat

1. inflection of bate:
   1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. third-person plural present indicative

From Proto-Slavic *batъ.

• IPA^(key): /bât/

bȁt m inan (Cyrillic spelling ба̏т)

1. mallet
2. helve hammer

• “bat”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish باصدی (bastı) (Turkish bastı), from باصمق (basmak) (Turkish basmak).

• IPA^(key): /bâːt/

bȃt m inan (Cyrillic spelling ба̑т)

1. The tramp of heavy footsteps, as in a military march
   • 1939, Čedomir Minderović, Crven je istok i zapad:

     Napred, sve bliže i bliže, / Čuje se koraka bat. / Glas milijona se diže: / Dole fašizam i rat!

     Forward, ever closer and closer, / the tramp of footsteps is heard. / The voice of millions is raised: / Down with fascism and war!

2. (rare) The tramp of horses’ hooves

• “bat”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

• IPA^(key): /bâːt/

bȃt m inan (Cyrillic spelling ба̑т)

1. alternative form of bȁht

• “bat”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

Borrowed from English bat.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbat/ [ˈbat̪]
• Rhymes: -at
• Syllabification: bat

bat m (plural bats)

1. (baseball) bat (act of batting)
2. misspelling of baht

• “bat”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈbat/ [ˈbat̪̚]
• Rhymes: -at
• Syllabification: bat

bat (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜆ᜔)

1. alternative spelling of ba't

bat

1. second-person singular imperative of batmak

• (Zinacantán) IPA^(key): /ɓätʰ/

bat

1. (intransitive) to go

• Laughlin, Robert M. (1975) The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantán. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Laughlin, Robert M. [et al.] (1988) The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of Santo Domingo Zinacantán, vol. I. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

bat

1. alternative form of bath
   • 1867, “ABOUT AN OLD SOW GOING TO BE KILLED”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 106:

     Mot earch oan to aar die. Ich mosth kotch a bat.

     But every one to his day. I must catch the bat.

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 106

bat (plural batoʼob)

1. hail, hailstone

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /paːt˧˥/
• Tone numbers: bad⁷
• Hyphenation: bat

From Middle Chinese 缽 (pat).

bat (Sawndip forms 朳 or 𥐙 or 鈸 or 叭 or 拔, 1957–1982 spelling bat)

1. basin; bowl

   Synonym: (dialectal) angq

bat (1957–1982 spelling bat)

1. basin of; bowl of

From Middle Chinese 八 (peat, “eight”). Doublet of bet.

bat (1957–1982 spelling bat)

1. eight (used in compounds)

   Synonym: bet