Word.ws English Dictionary

bat

UK/bæt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/bat/

bat noun: any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous. Also the dated form of baht.

bat: any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

bat (plural bats)

  1. Any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.
    • 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.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
    • 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...2012, Suemedha Sood, (bbc.co.uk) Travelwise: Texas love bats [sic]
  2. (derogatory) An old woman.
    • "Isn't it lovely?" I smiled and thought: "Yes it is. It's also a Blackbird, you silly old bat!2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 196

Noun (2)

bat (plural bats)

  1. A club, made of wood like a baseball bat or otherwise, used as a weapon
  2. A club made of wood or aluminium used for striking the ball in sports such as baseball, softball and cricket.
  3. A turn at hitting the ball with a bat in a game.
    • You've been in for ages. Can I have a bat now?
  4. A player rated according to skill in batting.
    • He's a good fielder and a valuable bat.
  5. (two-up) The piece of wood on which the spinner places the coins and then uses for throwing them.
    Synonyms:
    kip, kylie, lannet, stick
  6. Shale or bituminous shale.
    • bituminous shale ; which miners , if I mistake not , call bat1799, Richard Kirwan, Geological Essays
  7. A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.
  8. A part of a brick with one whole end.
  9. A stroke; a sharp blow.
  10. (Scotland, UK, dialectal) A stroke of work.
  11. (informal) Rate of motion; speed.
    • 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.1842, Sporting Magazine, page 251
    • a vast host of fowl […] making at full bat for the North Sea.1898, unknown author, Pall Mall Magazine
  12. (US, dated, slang) A spree; a jollification; a binge, jag.
  13. (Scotland, UK, dialectal) Manner; rate; condition; state of health.
  14. (Kent, Sussex) A rough walking stick.
    • So ſlides he dovvne vppon his greyned bat; / And comely diſtant ſits he by her ſide, […]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

Verb (1)

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.
  2. (intransitive) To take a turn at hitting a ball with a bat in sports like cricket, baseball and softball, as opposed to fielding.
  3. (intransitive) To strike or swipe as though with a bat.
    • The cat batted at the toy.
  4. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) To bate or flutter, as a hawk.

Verb (2)

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. (UK, US, dialectal) To wink.
  3. (intransitive, usually) To flit quickly from place to place.
    • I’ve spent all week batting around the country.
    • The "Star" is batting along at about a mile a minute, chattering away at the chimney and snatching small coal off the shovel.1956 February, W. A. Tuplin, “Hot Work on a "Star"”, in Railway Magazine, page 88

Noun (3)

bat (plural bats)

  1. (obsolete) A packsaddle.

Noun (4)

bat (plural bats)

  1. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) A child's shoe without a welt.
    • 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.1909, Boot and Shoe Recorder, volume 55, page 25
  2. (UK, obsolete, slang) A boot that is badly made or in poor condition.

Proper noun capitalized: BAT

BAT

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Bathurst.

Noun (5) capitalized: BAT

BAT (countable and uncountable, plural BATs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of best available technology: a principle applying to regulations on limiting pollutant discharges.
  2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of brown adipose tissue.
  3. (China) One or more of the Chinese technology companies Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.

Also used as

bat is also the dated form of baht.

bat is also the clipping of batty.

bat is also the clipping of battery.

bat meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bat in Hindi

small flying mammal
चमगादड़ camgādaṛ, गादुर gādur
club used for striking the ball in sports
बल्ला ballā
turn at batting
बल्लेबाजी करना ballebājī karnā
transitive: hit
बल्ले से मारना balle se mārnā

bat in Tamil

small flying mammal
வௌவால் vauvāl, வவ்வால் vavvāl
club used for striking the ball in sports
மட்டை maṭṭai
transitive: hit
அடி aṭi

bat in Marathi

small flying mammal
वटवाघूळ vaṭvāghūḷ
club used for striking the ball in sports
फळी phaḷī, बॅट bĕṭ

bat in Urdu

small flying mammal
چَمْگادَڑ camgādaṛ, بَیٹ baiṭ
club used for striking the ball in sports
بَلّا
More languagesFewer languages
bat in Bengali
বাদুড় baduṛ
bat in Telugu
గబ్బిలం gabbilaṁ
bat in Malayalam
വവ്വാൽ vavvāl, നരിച്ചീർ nariccīṟ
bat in Kannada
ಬ್ಯಾಟ್, ಬಾವಲಿ, ಬ್ಯಾಟಿಂಗ್ ಮಾಡಲು
bat in Gujarati
ચામાચીડિયું cāmācīḍiyũ
bat in Odia
ବ୍ଯ଼ାଟ୍, ବାଦୁଡ଼ି, ବାଟ୍
bat in Assamese
বাদুলি baduli
bat in Nepali
ब्याट, ब्याट्, ब्याट गर्न
bat in Tagalog
paniki
bat in Arabic
وَطْوَاط waṭwāṭ, خُفَّاش ḵuffāš, خُفْدُود ḵufdūd, خَنْفُوش ḵanfūš
bat in Malay
kelawar, bet
bat in Indonesian
kelelawar, kelawar, kampret, kalong
bat in Persian
شَبپَرَه, شَبپَرَهٔ چَرْمِی šab-para-yi čarmī, خُفاش, شَبکور
bat in Thai
ค้างคาว káang-kaao
bat in Vietnamese
dơi, chày
bat in Myanmar
လင်းနို့ lang:nui., လင်းဆွဲ lang:hcwai:

Examples of bat in a sentence

  • Clem Labine struck Mays out looking at his last at bat.
  • He corked his bat, which was discovered when it broke, causing a controversy.
  • The bat cracked with authority and the ball went for six.

All 40 example sentences with bat

Synonyms of bat

3 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of bat

Forms of bat

Noun
pluralbats
pluralBATs
Verb
third-person singular presentbats
present participlebatting
past participlebatted
pastbatted

Past tense of bat: batted

Plural of bat: bats

Origin of bat

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

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 battuō (“to beat, pound”).

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.

Words formed from bat

Phrases with bat

143 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with bat

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about bat

What does bat mean?
Bat means any flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, usually small and nocturnal, insectivorous or frugivorous.
What is bat in Hindi?
Bat in Hindi is चमगादड़ (camgādaṛ), गादुर (gādur), बल्ला (ballā). See Bat meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is bat?
Bat can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bat?
Bat is pronounced /bæt/ (UK).
What is the plural of bat?
The plural of bat is bats.

Words near bat in the dictionary

  1. Basyes
  2. basyle
  3. basyles
  4. basylous
  5. Baszucki
  6. bat
  7. bat a thousand
  8. bat about
  9. bat an eye
  10. bat an eyelash
  11. bat an eyelid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bat (page history and authors); BAT (page history and authors); bat (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bat (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bat (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bat.ogg, en-au-bat.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.