| 释义 |
▪ I. bat, n.1|bæt|
Forms: α. 3 ? balke, 4–6 bakke, backe, 5–6 bake, bak, back; β. 6–7 batte, 6–8 batt, 6– bat.
[The mod. bat, found c 1575, takes the place of ME. bakke, apparently from Scand.; cf. Da. aften-bakke ‘evening-bat,’ ODa. nath-bakkæ, OSw. (Ihre) natt-backa ‘night-bat.’ Swedish dial. have also natt-batta. natt-blacka: with the latter cf. Icel. leðr-blaka ‘bat,’ lit. ‘leather-flutterer,’ f. blaka ‘to flap, wave, flutter with wings,’ whence it has been suggested that bakke, backa have lost an l; but as the l does not appear in the OSw. and ODa. forms above, this is very unlikely. The med.L. blatta, blacta, batta, glossed ‘lucifuga, vespertilio, vledermus’ (Diefenbach Suppl. to Du Cange) = cl. L. blatta ‘an insect that shuns the light’ (blattæ lucifugæ, Vergil) ‘cockroach, moth,’ is distinct in origin, but may have influenced the English change to bat; evidence is wanting. Back- in comb., backie-bird, bawkie-bird still survive in north Eng. and Sc.]
1. a. An animal, a member of the Mammalian order Cheiroptera, and especially of the family Vespertilionidæ; consisting of mouse-like quadrupeds (whence the names Rere-mouse, Flitter-mouse), having the fingers extended to support a thin membrane which stretches from the side of the neck by the toes of both pairs of feet to the tail, and forms a kind of wing, with which they fly with a peculiar quivering motion; hence they were formerly classed as birds. They are all nocturnal, retiring by day to dark recesses, to which habits there are many references in literature.
Of about 17 species found in Britain the best-known are the Common Bat or Pipistrelle (Vespertilio Pipistrellus) and the Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auritus); of the much larger foreign species, the most noted are the Vampires.
αa1300W. de Biblesworth in Wright Voc. 164 Balke, chaufe-soriz en mesoun. c1340Alex. & Dind. 723 Bringen her a nihte-bird . a bakke . or an oule. 1388Wyclif Isa. ii. 20 Moldewarpis and backis, ether rere myis. [1535 Coverdale, Molles and Backes; 1590 Genev., To the mowles and to the backes; 1611 Moules and battes.] 1414Brampton Penit. Ps. lxxx. 31 A backe, that flyith be nyȝt. c1440Promp. Parv. 21 Bakke (v.r. bak), flyinge best (v.r. fleynge byrde), vespertilio. 1483Cath. Angl. 18 A Bakke, blata, vespertilio. 1496Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) iii. viii. 144 Lyke oules & backes whiche hate the daye & loue the nyght. a1500in Wülcker Voc. /761 Hic vespertilio, hec lucifuga, a bake. 1509Fisher Wks. i. (1876) 87 More louynge derkenes than lyght, lyke vnto a beest called a backe. 1513Douglas æneis xiii. Prol. 33 Vpgois the bak wyth hir pelit ledderyn flycht. 1552Huloet, Reremowse, or backe whiche flyeth in the darcke, nycteris. c1554Croke Ps. (1844) 20 The backe or owle, That lurketh yn an olde house syde. 1607Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. ii. vi 71 To cast them to the Moules and to the backes. [1808Jamieson s.v. Bak, The modern name in Sc. is backie-bird. 1863Prov. Danby, Back-bearaway, the bat, or rere mouse.]
β1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Chauvesouris, a Backe, some call it a Bat. 1596Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 36 The lether-winged batt, dayes enimy. 1604Drayton Owle 502 The blacke-ey'd Bat (the Watch-Man of the Night). 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. ii. 40 Ere the Bat hath flowne His Cloyster'd flight. 1725Pope Odyss. xii. 513 So to the beam the bat tenacious clings, And pendant round it clasps his leathern wings. 1768Pennant Zool. I. 114 The irregular, uncertain and jerking motion of the bat in the air. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 350 Silent bats in drowsy clusters cling. 1791Boswell Johnson (1831) IV. 209 The curious formation of a bat, a mouse with wings. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. i. Wks. 1834 II. 156 Bats on their webby wings in darkness move. 1847Carpenter Zool. §165, Cheiroptera; the animals of this Order, all of them commonly known as Bats. 1852D. Moir Ruins Seton Chapel v, The twilight-loving bat, on leathern wing. 1870Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 112 Now the shrill bats were upon the wing.
b. Colloq. phr. (to have) bats in the belfry: (to be) crazy or eccentric. Similarly (rare) to take the bats. Hence bats = batty a., used esp. as adj. complement.
c1901G. W. Peck Peck's Red-Headed Boy 82 They all thought a crazy man with bats in his belfry had got loose. 1907A. Bierce in Cosmopolitan Mag. July 335/2 He was especially charmed with the phrase ‘bats in the belfry’, and would indubitably substitute it for ‘possessed of a devil’, the Scriptural diagnosis of insanity. 1919F. Hurst Humoresque viii. 314 ‘Are you bats?’ she said. 1927A. E. W. Mason No other Tiger xix. 197 ‘On this sort of expedition!’ Phyllis Harmer exclaimed, looking at Strickland as if he was a natural. ‘Dear man, you've got bats in the belfry.’ 1927Chambers's Jrnl. 740/2 Have you taken the ‘bats’ or what? 1928Blackw. Mag. Jan. 17/2 The sahib had bats in his belfry, and must be humoured. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. vi. 285 You're completely bats. 1948Daily Express 8 Oct. 2/5 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty..was written by James Thurber, whose bats viewpoint on life can be summed up by a story about him.
c. Slang phr. (to go) like a bat out of hell, (to go) very quickly.
1921J. Dos Passos Three Soldiers (1922) ii. ii. 67 We went like a bat out of hell along a good state road. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 19 To go like a bat out of hell, to go at extreme high speed (Air Force). 1939I. Baird Waste Heritage, iv. 52 When it started to move I hared off an' picked out my car an' beat it like a bat out of hell. 1961I. Fleming Thunderball viii. 87 The motor cyclist..had gone like a bat out of hell towards Baker Street.
2. Comb.
a. ns., as bat-flight, bat-flying, whence bat-flying time, dusk; bat-light poet., darkness or gloom; bat-shell, a species of volute; bat-tick, an insect parasitical on bats.
b. adjs., as bat-blind, blind as a bat in the sunlight; bat-like, like a bat, or like that of a bat, also adv. after the manner of a bat; bat-wing, bats-wing (also bat's-wing), shaped like the wing of a bat, applied spec. to a laterally spreading flame from a gas-jet, and the burner producing it; also applied to that part of the human face which surrounds the eyes and nose, and to a long sleeve having a deep armhole and fitting closely at the cuff (Webster, 1934). Also in many parasynthetic derivatives, as bat-eared, having ears like those of a bat; bat-eyed, having bat's eyes; bat-minded, mentally blind; bat-winged, having bat's wings; also fig.; whence deriv. ns., as bat-mindedness, etc.
1609J. Davies Holy Rood 13 (D.) O *Bat-blind Fooles, doe ye infatuate That Wisdome? 1834M. Scott Cruise Midge (1859) 503 If you are not bat-blind it will evince to you that, etc.
1903Daily Chron. 25 May 5/2 Several of the *bat-eared French bull-dogs.
1638Sanderson Serm. II. 118 One, to be cat-eyed outward..another, to be *bat-eyed inward; in not perceiving..a beam in a man's own eye. 1927Glasgow Herald 24 Oct. 10 A recumbent area of, say, six feet in diameter would be sufficient for the most bat-eyed foozler. 1927E. Wallace Feathered Serpent xviii. 226 I'd had a couple of drinks that night, and naturally I was a bit bat-eyed.
1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xvii, I hae sat on the grave frae *bat-fleeing time till cock-crow.
1934T. S. Eliot Rock ii. 84 The twilight over stagnant pools at *batflight.
1871G. M. Hopkins Let. 2 Aug. (1935) 27, I live in *bat-light and shoot at a venture. 1946C. Fry Firstborn 10, I was out before daybreak. It's a good marksman who hunts by batlight.
a1711Ken Edmund Wks. 1721 II. 90 His *Bat-like Wings he to full stretch expands. 1785–95Wolcott (P. Pindar) Lousiad ii. Wks. I. 230 Conscience..That, bat-like, winks by day and wakes by night. 1858Sears Athan. ii. xii. 249 Bat-like fallacies. 1878B. Taylor Deukalion i. iv. 34 Bat-like cries, thin, impotent of sound.
1869Echo 23 Jan., There is enough..*bat-mindedness in the world to give Rome a fair chance.
1838Penny Cycl. XI. 88/2 The burners are of many different forms... The *batswing is a thin sheet of gas produced by its passing through a fine saw-cut in a hollow globe. 1846Holtzapffel Turning II. 753 The gas-burners designated as bat's-wing burners have a narrow slit through which the gas issues: these are cut..by thin circular saws. 1869Daily News 18 June, The common batswing burner..is of about the same illuminating power as the fishtails. 1872Young Englishwoman Oct. 547/1 The batswing skirt is made in all colours... The best is seamless; the second..in seams..[is] cheaper than the seamless batswing. 1904Daily Chron. 23 Aug. 8/1 In the red straw hat there are batswing bows. 1908Practitioner Jan. 22 The bat's-wing area of the face.
1852T. Harris Insects New Eng. 501 A remarkable group of insects, which seems to connect the flies with the true ticks and spiders. Such are sheep-ticks and *bat-ticks.
1823Local & Pers. Acts I. 128 Any Light or Lights, or Argand, Cockspur, *Batwing or any other Kind of Burner. 1872H. Macmillan True Vine vii. 296 The leaves of the bat-wing passion-flower. 1959Guardian 28 Aug. 3/5 The new Balenciaga coat has very wide batwing armholes. 1961Harper's Bazaar June 22/2 Loosely-fitting top with batwing sleeves.
1847Ld. Lindsay Chr. Art. I. 84 The triple-headed, *bat-winged, horned and hoofed monster of the later middle ages. 1911Fletcher & Kipling Hist. England i. 9, I remember the bat-winged lizard birds. 1923D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 76 Bat-winged heart of man.
▸ colloq. and depreciative. a. A prostitute, esp. one who walks the streets at night; a promiscuous woman. Now U.S. regional.
In early use usually as part of an extended metaphor.
1607T. Dekker & G. Wilkins Paradox in Praise of Sergiants in Iests to make you Merie 58 Synnes, that in the shapes of Bats, Skreech-owles, and such other ominous mid night-walkers, wasted the bawdy night in shameles and godlesse Reuilings. 1732Gentleman's Mag. Aug. 907 They're bats, who chase their Twilight Prey. 1811F. Grose Lexicon Balatronicum Bat, a low whore: so called from moving out like bats in the dusk of the evening. 1859G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 100 You lie, you bat. I couple with no cove but my own. 1900Dial. Notes 2 22 Bat, a loose woman. 1927Amer. Speech 2 348/1 Bat, an old.., a woman of ill fame. ‘I wouldn't be running around with that old bat.’ 1934B. Appel Brain Guy xix. 260 He ought to be glad someone, even a little bat like Madge, cared for him. 1966S. Harris Hellhole (1967) 161 Molly still designates..[criminals] by the names with which she first learned to identify them:..‘bats’ or ‘owls’—streetwalkers who work at night. 2001J. O'Brien At Home in Heart of Appalachia xiii. 234 Prostitutes—‘bats’ in local speech—met them at the depot by the company store.
b. In later use perhaps influenced by battle-axe n. 4. A disagreeable or foolish woman or girl (occas. also used affectionately). Usu. with modifying adjective, esp. in old bat.
1886K. P. Wormeley tr. Balzac Père Goriot v. 63 That old bat of a woman makes me shiver. 1906H. Green At Actors' Boarding House 81 She's an old bat, ain't she? 1961F. Brown Murderers ii. 27 Mrs. Whelan..came up to ask us to knock off a few decibels,..and stayed for a glass of wine; she's a nice tolerant old bat. 1977J. Rosenthal Bar Mitzvah Boy & Other Television Plays 157, I couldn't help myself, you daft bat! 1996M. Syal Anita & Me (1997) ix. 234 ‘I'm not allowed. Not on me own.’ ‘You won't be on your own, will you, soft bat.’
▸ bat fly n. a member of either of the dipteran families Nycteribiidae and Streblidae, which comprise minute, blood-sucking, spider-like flies that are ectoparasites of bats.
1835E. Newman Gram. Entomol. 197 (heading) *Bat-flies (Nycteribiites). 1934Jrnl. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 7 63 They were extremely heavily infested with external parasites of other kinds (fleas, mites and ticks), yet only by way of exception were they infested with bat-flies. 1993Entomol. News 10443 Eight species of bat flies (Insecta: Diptera: Streblidae and Nycteribiidae) collected from bats from Jordan, Libya and Algeria are listed.
▪ II. bat, n.2|bæt|
Forms: 3 (dat. sing.) botte, (pl.) botten, 3–5 bottes, 3–6 battes; 5–6 batte, 6–8 batt, 4– bat.
[As the nom. sing. does not occur in 13th c., it is uncertain whether it was bat or batte, and thus whether it was an adoption of OF. batte (partly identical in sense, referred by Littré to battre to beat), or represented an OE. *bat (fem.) ‘fustis,’ alleged by Somner, from an unknown source. The forms in Layamon rather favour the latter; but in any case some of the senses are from F. batte. The supposed OE. *bat is by some referred to a Celtic origin; cf. Ir. and Gael. bat, bata staff, cudgel. The development and relations of the senses are obscure: some of them appear to be from the verb, and some may be immediately due to onomatopœia, from the sound of a solid, slightly dull, blow: cf. pat. Thus there may be two or three originally distinct words, though no longer satisfactorily separable.]
I. A stick or stout piece of wood.
1. A stick, a club, a staff for support and defence. (In 1387 applied to a crosier.) arch. Still dial. (Kent, Sussex, etc.) = staff, walking-stick.
1205Lay. 21593 Þa botten [1250 battes] heo up heouen. c1230Ancr. R. 366 Us forto buruwen from þes deofles botte. c1300K. Alis. 78 And made heom fyghte with battes. c1320Syr Bevis 391 He nemeth is bat and forth a goth. 1387Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. I. 381 Forto swere vppon eny of þilke belles and gold battes. c1440Promp. Parv. 26 Batte, staffe, fustis. c1440Gesta Rom. 179 As to a thef ye come oute, with swerdes & battes to take me. 1494Fabyan vii. 596 This was clepyd of the comon people the parlyament of battes..for proclamacyons were made, yt men shulde leue theyr swerdes &..the people toke great battes & stauys. 1555Fardle Facions App. 327 Let there bee giuen vnto hym by the commune Sergeaunt of the batte .xxxix. stripes with a waster. 1591Spenser M. Hubberd 217 A handsome bat he held, On which he leaned. 1607Shakes. Cor. i. i. 165 Make you ready your stiffe bats and clubs. 1655Gouge Comm. Heb. xi. 35 τύµπανον..signifieth a ‘bat,’ or a ‘staff.’ 1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 631 He headed all the rabble of a town, And finish'd 'em with bats. 1822Scott Nigel xxi, I have given up..my bat for a sword. 1875Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 103 Called..the parliament of bats or bludgeons.
†2. ? A balk of timber. batt's end apparently = mast-head. Obs. or dial.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 42 Though the corne be laide upon Battes in the floores. a1618Raleigh Royal Navy 4 Necessaries belonging to shipping, even from the Batts end to the very Kilson of a Ship. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 211 Neat Timber, a fift part (which is sufficient in such large batts)..allow'd for the wast of rind, chipps, etc.
3. a. The wooden implement with rounded handle and flattened blade used to strike or ‘bat’ the ball in cricket. (The most common mod. sense.)
1706Phillips, Bat..a kind of Club to strike a Ball with, at the Play call'd Cricket. [So in Bailey 1731, etc.] 1770J. Love Cricket 3 He weighs the well-turned Bat's experienc'd Force. 1807Crabbe Village i. 336 The bat, the wicket, were his labours all. 1850in Cricket. Man. 100 Pilch scored sixty-one, and brought out his bat.
b. short for batter, batsman.
1756Connoisseur 5 Aug. 796 His greatest excellence is cricket-playing, in which he is reckoned as good a bat as either of the Bennets. 1859All Y. Round No. 13. 306 McJug..one of our best bats, went to the wicket first.
c. Hence the phrase, off his own bat, in reference to the score made by a player's own hits; fig. solely by his own exertions, by himself. Also † bat's end, a local term for ‘point’ (see point n.1 B. 11 a) (Obs.); with the bat, in batting; as a batsman; from or off the bat: of runs scored from actual hits (opp. ‘extras’); to carry one's bat: see carry v. 53 c.
1742in H. T. Waghorn Cricket Scores (1899) 29 The bets on the Slendon man's head that he got 40 notches off his own bat were lost. 1786County Mag. Nov. 171 These two things then you next must do, Place one at middle wick't, at batt's end two. 1832P. Egan's Bk. Sports 345/2 Pilch..showed great capabilities, both in the field and with the bat. 1845Syd. Smith Fragm. Irish Ch. Wks. II. 340/1 He had no revenues but what he got off his own bat. 1859All Y. Round No. 13. 305 One of our adversaries scored 70 off his own bat. 1862Baily's Mag. Aug. 83 Out of the 204 runs scored from the bat by Oxford, 90..were contributed by Mr. Mitchell. 1863Lillywhite's Cricket Scores III. 97 Hodgson got more runs in his one innings than Rochdale did in their twenty-two innings off the bat. 1865Fraser's Mag. Nov. 667 It is a mistake..to suppose that Lord Palmerston did everything off his own bat after 1834. 1887F. Gale Game Cricket 45 Seventy years ago..He played as substitute for an absent mate and was placed at ‘bat's-end’, as point was always called. 1939T. S. Eliot Old Possum's Pract. Cats 30 All his Inventions are off his own bat.
d. In baseball, the implement used to strike the ball or the act of using it; esp, in phrases at bat, hot (or right) off the bat, to (the) bat; also fig. N. Amer.
1856Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 6 Dec. 229/1 The bat or club [used in baseball] is of hickory or ash, about 3 feet long, tapering..and round. 1868Iowa State Reporter (Des Moines) 21 Oct. 2/4 The penny was flipped to see who should go first to the bat. 1875Chicago Tribune 18 Aug. 5/6 The fine play of the home nine..both in the field and at the bat. 1881Sun-beam (Terre-Haute, Ind.) June 5/1 Picking up a base⁓ball bat. 1884E. W. Nye Baled Hay 52 Common decency ought to govern conversation without its being necessary to hire an umpire to announce who is at bat. 1888Outing (U.S.) May 118/2 Ferguson..sent the Cincinnatis to the bat. 1888‘M. Twain’ Meisterschaft 459 Whoever may ask us a Meisterschaft question shall get a Meisterschaft answer—and hot from the bat! 1889― Conn. Yankee xi. 516 Step to the bat, it's your innings. 1914Maclean's Mag. Feb. 135/2 Get one that chums-up with your spirit right off the bat, natural like. 1955New Yorker 21 May 76/3 You can tell right off the bat that they're wicked, because they keep eating grapes indolently.
e. In the game of two-up (see quot. 1945).
1917N.Z.E.F. Chrons. 16 May 137/2 The big brown paw that held the ‘bat’ Was trembling like a leaf. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. ix. 176 The small piece of board upon which the two pennies are rested for spinning is called the kip, stick, bat or kiley.
f. Usu. in pl., the objects resembling table-tennis bats used to guide aircraft landing (e.g. on a ship's deck). Hence used colloq. as a name for one who signals with these bats; = batsman 2.
1943Fleet Air Arm (Min. of Information) v. 32 (caption) The Deck-Landing Control Officer guides the Seafire pilot in with his ‘bats’. 1943T. Horsley Find, Fix & Strike v. 45 The control officer ‘bats’, which are now fitted with small electric bulbs, are clearly seen against the background of ‘glim’ lights. Ibid. x. 80 (caption) The ‘Bats’ Officer, in charge of the landing, is about to give the pilot the signal to cut his engine. 1948Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 1939–45 12 Bats, the Ward-room name for the Deck Landing Officer on an aircraft carrier.
4. The ‘sword of wood’ or light lath wand of Harlequin in pantomimes. [Directly from F. ‘batte, sabre de bois d'arlequin’ (Littré).]
1859Illustr. Lond. News 8 Jan., Harlequin's wonder-working bat.
5. dial. (Kent, etc.): The wooden handle or stick of an implement, e.g. of a scythe.
6. dial. (Herefordsh. etc.): A wooden implement for breaking clods of earth. [So F. batte.]
II. A lump, a piece of certain substances; a mass, dull-sounding, or formed by beating.
†7. A lump, piece, bit. Obs. in general sense.
c1340Alexander (Stev.) 4166 Quare flaggis of the fell snawe · fell fra þe heuen..a-brade..as battis ere of wolle. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xix. 92 Þe of heuene..bad hit be [of] a bat of erþe · a man and a mayde.
8. a. esp. A piece of a brick having one end entire.
1519W. Horman Vulg. 240 b, Battz and great rubbrysshe.. to fyll vp in the myddell of the wall. 1667Primatt City & C. Build. 50 Let him get his foundation cleared, and his Bricks and Bats laid up. 1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 261 Lay a three quarter Bat at the Quine in the stretching course. [See brickbat.]
b. Pottery. (a) = stilt n. 4 f; (b) a piece of unfired clay (see quot. 18252).
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 273 Pieces of clay, called stilts, pins, bats [etc.] are put to keep them apart. Ibid. 466 The piece is then laid on a flat surface of board, or plaster, and the workman with a heavy lump of clay, with a level under-surface, adapted for holding in the hand, beats the clay to the thinness the vessel is intended to form. These pieces of clay are technically called bats. 1961M. Jones Potbank viii. 30 A tool..comes down to press the lump out into a..pancake. The maker puts the clay—now called a bat—in the mould.
9. A kind of sun-dried brick.
1816Southey in Q. Rev. XV. 214 Preparing bats,—a sort of bricks made of clay and straw, well beaten together, 18 inches long, 12 wide, 4 deep, not burnt, but dried in the sun.
10. A brick-shaped peat.
1846Clarke in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VII. ii. 517 The dried ‘peat bats,’ or brick-shaped turf, used for fuel.
11. Shale interstratified between seams of coal, iron-ore, etc. Cf. bass n.4
1686Plot Staffordsh. 132 Substances call'd partings..of consistence between an earth and a coal, or soft bat. 1712H. Bellers in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 543 Those Substances, which divide the Strata of Coals and Iron Oars from each other, are called Bats by the Miners. 1839Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xxxv. 474 Black ‘bat,’ a dull, compact, bituminous shale, which sounds under the hammer like wood.
12. A felted mass of fur, or of hair and wool in hat-making: often spelt batt.
1836Scenes Commerce 195 The whole mass..is called a batt; a second batt is added to it; and by dint of pressure..the two batts become one. 1837Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 294 A batt is quantity sufficient for making half the thickness of one hat. 1875Ure Dict. Arts II. 784 The bat or capade thus formed is rendered compact by pressing it down with the hardening skin.
13. A sheet of cotton wadding used for filling quilts; batting.
III. A stroke.
14. a. A firm blow as with a staff or club. Cf. bat v.
a1400Cov. Myst. 296 That xal be asayd be this batte, What thou, Ihesus? ho ȝaff the that? 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 432 Sum gat ane bat that breissit all thair bonis. 1566Drant Horace' Sat. i. i. A ij, The souldyer that doth deale the battes and makes his foes to flye. 1674P. Whalley Establ. Relig. 22 To have a Batt at the Pope with the Butt end of a Dominican. 1864Atkinson Whitby Gloss. s.v. Bat, ‘It gets more bats than bites,’ said of the dog that gets more blows than food.
b. A movement of the eyelids (see bat v.2 2).
1932E. Caldwell Tobacco Road iv. 41 Almost as quickly as the bat of an eye. 1941‘M. Home’ Place of Little Birds ii. 21 He didn't show by the bat of an eyelid that you were a friend. 1948C. Fry Thor, with Angels 7 We were at the boy in the bat of an eye.
15. dial. and slang. Beat, rate of stroke or speed, pace; in Sc. dial. rate, manner, style.
1808Jamieson s.v., [Getting on] about the auld bat. 1824Craven Dial. 49 There com by me, at a feaful girt bat, a par o'shay and four. 1877Peacock Manley (Linc.) Gloss. s.v., They do go at a strange bat on them railroads. 1880Daily Tel. 11 Mar., Going off at a lively bat of 34..the boat travelled at a good pace. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robb. under Arms I. xxi. 293 We could hear a horse coming along at a pretty good bat. Ibid. II. xvi. 247 A cove comes tearing up full batt. 1949‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar xv. 138 [The horse] took Felix under an oak, going an awful bat. 1961J. Welcome Beware of Midnight ii. 20 We turned on to the main..road and started going a hell of a bat across the Cotswolds.
IV. Comb., as bat-ball, a ball to be struck with a bat; batboy Baseball, a youth employed to look after the bats and other equipment of a baseball team; batman, one who carries a bludgeon, a clubman; bat-willow, a species of willow from which cricket bats are made. Also bat-fowl, -er, -ing. See also cricket-bat willow.
1876Emerson Ess. Ser. i. x. 241 Moons are no more bounds to spiritual power than bat-balls.
1914N.Y. Tribune 5 Oct. 10/1 Everybody connected with the Boston team, from Jim Gaffney, president and chief owner, down to the bat boy, has been pulling in the same direction. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 12 June 14/1 Still several weeks shy of 22, Randolph looks more like a bat boy than a big-deal Yankee.
1833Extracts as to Administ. Poor Laws 26 The batmen, so called from the provincial term of bat, for a bludgeon which they use.
1907Kew Bulletin No. 8. 311 The supplies of the best ‘Bat Willow’ have become seriously limited. 1910Westm. Gaz. 6 Apr. 4/2 The fast growing bat-willow..a first-cross between two common varieties of willow..appeared in Norfolk about 1700. It is still chiefly obtained from East Anglia.
▪ III. ‖ bat, bât, n.3|bɑː, bɑːt, bæt|
[a. F. bât pack-saddle, OF. bast:—late L. bastum, perhaps connected with Gr. βαστ-άζειν to bear.]
1. A pack-saddle. Only in comb., as bat-needle, a packing-needle (obs.); bât-horse (F. cheval de bât), a sumpter-beast, a horse which carries the baggage of military officers, during a campaign; as bât-mule. See also batman.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 218 To brochen hem with a batte-nelde · and bond hem to-gederes. 1578Richmond Wills (1853) 279 Batt nedles, ij s. 1787T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 137 Putting my baggage into portable form for my bat-mule. 1863Kinglake Crimea II. 144 It was found necessary to dispense with the bât horses of the army. 1879Pall Mall Budg. 17 Oct. 20 A new pack-saddle for bat mules or horses has been invented by an officer of the French military train.
2. In bat-money: An allowance for carrying baggage in the field. Sometimes confused with batta n.1
1793Pitt in G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 127 He shall have directions about the bât and forage money. 1808Wellington in Gurwood Disp. IV. 82, I should make an issue of bât and forage money to the Officers. 1813Sir R. Wilson Pr. Diary II. 279 Lord Castlereagh also notes that my income will be suitably augmented by a bât and forage allowance.
▪ IV. bat, n.4 slang (orig. U.S.).
Also batt.
[Of obscure origin: cf. batter n.4]
A spree or binge.
1848Durivage & Burnham Stray Subj. 102 (Th.), Zenas had been on ‘a bat’ during the night previous. 1869W. T. Washburn Fair Harvard 69 (Th.), I went to a ‘bat’ in S.'s room, and we smoked and drank till three. 1891Harper's Mag. Oct. 778/1 He had been on a bat, and all on earth that ailed him was that spree. 1901House Party 188 We defied the Head and went off on the meekest and stupidest little bat you ever saw. 1942E. Waugh Put out more Flags iii. §4. 187 Why don't you switch to rum? It's much better for you... When did you start on this bat?
▪ V. bat, n.5|bat|
[Hindi, = speech, language, word.]
the bat: the colloquial speech of a foreign country; chiefly in phr. to sling the bat.
1887Kipling Three Musketeers in Plain Tales from Hills (1888) 62 T' Sahib doesn't speak t' bat. 1889― Barrack-room Ballads (1892) 67 An' ow they would admire for to hear us sling the bat. 1919War Terms in Athenæum 8 Aug. 729/1 A variant for ‘sling the bat’ (speak the lingo) is ‘spin the bat’. 1924Glasgow Herald 14 Apr. 10 He continued eagerly..‘that in the bat of the Arab ‘Shmallock’ and ‘Amenak’ mean ‘left’ and ‘right’.’
▪ VI. bat, v.1|bæt|
[f. bat n.2; cf. also F. batt-re to beat.]
1. trans. To strike with, or as with, a bat; to cudgel, thrash, beat.
c1440Promp. Parv. 26 Battyn, or betyn wyth stavys (v.r. battis), fustigo, baculo. 1570Levins Manip. /37 To batte, beate, fustigare, tundere. 1606Holland Sueton. 116 Mariners, who with their sprits, poles, and oares..beate and batt their carkasses. 1859Reeve Brittany 49 Women vehemently batting heaps of wet linen at the lavatories.
2. a. To strike or hit a ball with a bat, so as to drive it away, esp. in Cricket. Also absol. and fig.
1745in H. T. Waghorn Cricket Scores (1899) 36 The girls bowled, batted, ran, and catched..as well as most men could do in that game. 1773Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 451 To bat and bowl with might and main. 1859Barnes Rhymes Dorset Dial. II. 14 Well here..'S a ball for you if you can bat it. 1884Manch. Exam. 16 May 5 The Notts team was batting all day against Sussex. 1959Observer 18 Jan. 19/2 The healer, who went in to bat last, was lured into the last ditch of philosophical idealism. 1961Listener 2 Nov. 737/3 Two contributors, finally, bat for Christianity.
b. to bat on a sticky wicket: see sticky a.2
†3. To fasten by beating. Obs.
1793Smeaton Edystone L. §302 By batting them closely to the stone underneath, by the gentle blows of a small hammer. Ibid. The leaden cap..that I had carefully batted to the stone.
4. To go or move; to wander, to potter. Usu. with advb. extension, along, around, away, etc. Chiefly dial. and U.S.
a1898Old Radicals & Young Reformers 13 (E.D.D.), Heaw they staret when they seed Billy battin away across a fielt. 1907W. D. Howells Let. 3 Oct. in Mark Twain—Howells Lett. (1960) II. 826 [She] was in England..batting round with two other girls, and having a great time. 1926S.P.E. Tract XXIV. 119 Bat round, have a good time, go from place to place (in quest of pleasure). ‘We've been batting round all evening.’ 1929E. Rice Street Scene (1930) 1, I want 'em [sc. the kids] home, instead o' battin' around the streets. 1938Reader's Digest Mar. 13/2 A Department Sanitation truck was batting along as fast as it could go. 1959Encounter Aug. 30/2 So I batted along, and I tried to make conversation with the kiddo. 1959I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren x. 192 Expressions inviting a person's departure..bat off, beat it, [etc.].
▪ VII. bat, v.2
[A variant of bate v.1; in sense 2 perh. of bate v.2]
1. intr. To bate or flutter as a hawk.
1615Latham Falconry (1633) Gloss., Batting, or to bat is when a Hawke fluttereth with her wings either from the pearch or the mans fist, striuing as it were to flie away.
2. trans. (orig. dial. and in U.S.) to bat the eyes: to move the eyelids quickly, to wink. Also freq. in colloq. phr. (normally in negative form), not to bat an eye, eyelid, etc. (i) not to sleep a wink; (ii) to betray no emotion (orig. U.S.). Also intr.
In quot. 1950 the phr. means contextually ‘I didn't open my eyes (i.e. I slept heavily)’.
1838Holloway Prov. Dict. 9/1 Bat, to wink..Derby. 1846J. J. Hooper Adv. Simon Suggs xii. 143, I didn't say nuthin, but jist batted my eye at old Chamblin. 1847–78Halliwell, Bat, to wink. Derbysh. 1879G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Bat, to wink, or rather to move the eyelids up and down quickly. 1883American VI. 237 To bat the eyes, meaning to wink, when we desire to express the rapidity of the action. 1883J. Harris in Century Mag. May 146 You hol' your head high; don't you bat your eyes to please none of 'em. 1889‘Craddock’ Broomsedge Cove xii. 208 If my patient can't sleep, not a soul in the house shall bat an eye all night. 1904Sun (N.Y.) 7 Aug. 1 The Judge would say: ‘That's interesting..I hadn't heard of it.’ But, as they say out West, ‘he wouldn't bat an eye’. 1910‘O. Henry’ Whirligigs viii. 113 I've stood by you without batting an eye in earthquakes, fire and flood. 1930English Jrnl. XIX. 607 We do want the facts, and we are willing to look them straight in the eye without batting a lash. 1950J. Cannan Murder Incl. vi. 109, I was tired..and I never batted an eyelid until Beatrice brought in my breakfast. 1959News Chron. 14 July 4/6 [Japan] slipped from..past to..present without, you might say, batting an eyelid.
▪ VIII. bat
obs. f. bath n.3 a Heb. measure.
▪ IX. bat
see batz, a German coin.
▪ X. bat(e
obs. form of boat. |