batlet
/ˈbætlət/
batlet noun: a short bat for beating clothes when washing them.
Noun
batlet (plural batlets)
- A short bat for beating clothes when washing them.
- Clo[wn]. And I mine: I remember when I was in loue, I broke my ſword vpon a ſtone, and bid him take that for comming a night to Iane Smile, and I remember the kiſſing of her batler [var. batlet], and the Cowes dugs that her prettie chopt hands had milk’d; […]c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- These 'batlets', which had of necessity to be made from well-seasoned wood, were evidently prized household items, often intricately carved on the upper surface.1992, Christina Hardyment, Home Comfort: A History of Domestic Arrangements ; in Association with the National Trust
- Synonyms:
- batling staff, batting staff, battledore, clap staff, fuller’s beetle, laundry bat, washing bat, washing beetle, washing paddle
Synonyms of batlet
- batling staff
- batting staff
- battledore
- clap staff
- fuller’s beetle
- laundry bat
- washing bat
- washing beetle
- washing paddle
Forms of batlet
| plural | batlets |
|---|
Origin of batlet
From bat + -let. Probably a spurious word, in the 20th century reborrowed from word-lists. Both this and batler are only known from the same Shakespeare locus; neither is it known that battler means a fuller’s beetle but him who beetles or “posses” the clothes. However for the meaning of a flat cuboid on a handle to clean textiles by muscles battril, which could be a metathesis of batler, is known to have been used in the Lancashire dialect, such as by Tim Bobbin on multiple occasions.
Questions about batlet
- What does batlet mean?
- Batlet means a short bat for beating clothes when washing them.
- What part of speech is batlet?
- Batlet is a noun.
- How do you pronounce batlet?
- Batlet is pronounced /ˈbætlət/.
- What is the plural of batlet?
- The plural of batlet is batlets.
Words near batlet in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: batlet (page history and authors). 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:
Cite this entry: “batlet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/batlet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.