bat¹ /bat/

1. A flattish club for striking the ball in cricket
2. A rounded club for baseball
3. In tennis, etc, a racket (informal)
4. A turn at batting (cricket)
5. A batsman
6. Something shaped like a bat, eg the signalling devices used by a batman to guide aircraft
7. A heavy stick
8. The clown or harlequin's lath
9. A piece of brick
10. Speed, rate (slang)
11. A drunken spree (slang)
12. A blow
13. A sheet of batting (also batt)
14. A layer of felt used in hat-making (also batt)

1. To hit with a bat in cricket, etc
2. To take a turn at batting in cricket, etc
3. To hit as with a bat

battˈer noun

battˈing noun

1. The action of or skill at using a bat in cricket or baseball
2. Cotton wadding prepared in sheets, for quilts, etc

batˈfish noun

Any of several groups of fish with winglike projections, esp the Ogocephalidae or the Pacific Epippidae

batˈfowling noun

Catching birds at night by using lights to confuse them

batˈman noun

A man on an airfield or aircraft-carrier who assists planes to taxi to position using a pair of lightweight bats (also batsˈman)

bat printing noun

A method of printing in which designs are transferred by means of a sheet of gelatine

batsˈman or batsˈwoman noun

1. A player who bats in cricket
2. (batsman) see also batman above

batsˈmanship noun

bat around (slang)

1. To wander
2. To go on a bat

bat for both sides (slang)

1. To be bisexual
2. To be duplicitous

bat for the other side (slang)

To be homosexual

carry one's bat (cricket)

Of an opening batsman, to remain not-out at the end of a completed innings

go to bat for (N American informal)

To defend, take the side of

off one's own bat

1. By one's own efforts
2. On one's own initiative

right off the bat (N Am inf)

Straight away

bat² /bat/

A flying mammal with wings attached mainly to its arms and hands, but extending along its sides to the hind-feet and tail

bats adjective (informal)

Crazy

battˈy adjective

1. Bat-like
2. Bat-infested
3. Crazy (informal)

batsˈwing adjective

Shaped like a bat's wing, eg of the flame of a gas-burner

batwing sleeve noun

A sleeve that is very wide at the armhole and tight at the wrist

blind as a bat

Completely blind

have (or be) bats in the belfry (informal)

To be crazy or slightly mad

like a bat out of hell (informal)

Very quickly

bat³ /bat/

(batt'ing; batt'ed) to flutter (esp an eyelid)

not bat an eye or eyelid

1. To show no surprise or emotion
2. Not to sleep a wink

bat⁴ /bat/

The informal speech of a foreign language, lingo

sling the bat

To speak such a language

• marcs
• mard
• mardied
• mardier
• mardies
• mardiest
• Mardi Gras
• Mardis Gras
• mardy
• mardying
• mare
• mare clausum
• mare clausums
• Marek's disease
• mare liberum
• mare liberums
• maremma
• maremme
• Marengo
• mares
• mareschal
• mareschals
• mare's-nest
• mare's-tail
• Mareva injunction