Bat Bat (băt)
noun [ Middle English
batte ,
botte , Anglo-Saxon
batt ; perhaps from the Celtic; confer Ir.
bat ,
bata , stick, staff; but confer also French
batte a beater (thing), wooden sword,
battre to beat.]
1. A large stick; a club; specifically, a piece of wood with one end thicker or broader than the other, used in playing baseball, cricket, etc. 2. (Mining) Shale or bituminous shale. Kirwan. 3. A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting. 4. A part of a brick with one whole end. Bat bolt (Machinery) ,
a bolt barbed or jagged at its butt or tang to make it hold the more firmly. Knight.
Bat Bat transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Batted (băt"tĕd);
present participle & verbal noun Batting .]
To strike or hit with a bat or a pole; to cudgel; to beat. Holland.
Bat Bat intransitive verb To use a bat, as in a game of baseball.
Bat Bat noun [ Corrupt. from Middle English
back ,
backe ,
balke ; confer Dan. aften-
bakke (
aften evening), Swedish natt-
backa (
natt night), Icelandic lešr-
blaka (
lešr leather), Icelandic
blaka to flutter.]
(Zoology) One of the Cheiroptera, an order of flying mammals, in which the wings are formed by a membrane stretched between the elongated fingers, legs, and tail. The common bats are small and insectivorous. See Cheiroptera and Vampire . Silent bats in drowsy clusters cling.
Goldsmith. Bat tick (Zoology) ,
a wingless, dipterous insect of the genus Nycteribia , parasitic on bats.
Bat Bat noun [ Siamese.]
Same as Tical , noun , 1.
Bat Bat transitive verb & i. 1. To bate or flutter, as a hawk. [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng.]
2. To wink. [ Local, U. S. & Prov Eng.]
Bat Bat noun 1. In badminton, tennis, and similar games, a racket. 2. A stroke; a sharp blow. [ Colloq. or Slang]
3. A stroke of work. [ Scot. & Prov. Eng.]
4. Rate of motion; speed. [ Colloq.] "A vast host of fowl . . . making at full
bat for the North Sea."
Pall Mall Mag. 5. A spree; a jollification. [ Slang, U. S.]
6. Manner; rate; condition; state of health. [ Scot. & Prov. Eng.]
Bat printing Bat" print`ing (Ceramics) A mode of printing on glazed ware.
Bat's-wing, Batwing Bat's"-wing", Bat"wing adjective Shaped like a bat's wing; as, a bat's-wing burner.
Batable Bat"a·ble adjective [ Abbrev. from
debatable .]
Disputable. [ Obsolete] » The border land between England and Scotland, being formerly a subject of contention, was called
batable or
debatable ground.
Batailled Bat"ailled adjective Embattled. [ Obsolete]
Chaucer.
Batardeau Ba`tar·deau" noun [ French]
1. A cofferdam. Brande & C. 2. (Mil.) A wall built across the ditch of a fortification, with a sluice gate to regulate the height of water in the ditch on both sides of the wall.
Batatas Ba·ta"tas Ba*ta"ta noun An aboriginal American name for the sweet potato ( Ipomęa batatas ).
Batavian Ba·ta"vi·an adjective Of or pertaining to (a) the Batavi, an ancient Germanic tribe; or to (b) Batavia or Holland; as, a Batavian legion. Batavian Republic ,
the name given to Holland by the French after its conquest in 1795.
Batavian Ba·ta"vi·an noun A native or inhabitant of Batavia or Holland. [ R.]
Bancroft.
Batch Batch noun [ Middle English
bache ,
bacche , from Anglo-Saxon
bacan to bake; confer German
gebäck and Dutch
baksel . See
Bake ,
transitive verb ]
1. The quantity of bread baked at one time. 2. A quantity of anything produced at one operation; a group or collection of persons or things of the same kind; as, a batch of letters; the next batch of business. "A new
batch of Lords."
Lady M. W. Montagu.
Bate Bate noun [ Prob. abbrev. from
debate .]
Strife; contention. [ Obsolete]
Shak.
Bate Bate transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Bated ;
present participle & verbal noun Bating .] [ From
abate .]
1. To lessen by retrenching, deducting, or reducing; to abate; to beat down; to lower. He must either bate the laborer's wages, or not employ or not pay him.
Locke.
2. To allow by way of abatement or deduction. To whom he bates nothing of what he stood upon with the parliament.
South.
3. To leave out; to except. [ Obsolete]
Bate me the king, and, be he flesh and blood,
He lies that says it.
Beau. & Fl.
4. To remove. [ Obsolete]
About autumn bate the earth from about the roots of olives, and lay them bare.
Holland.
5. To deprive of. [ Obsolete]
When baseness is exalted, do not bate
The place its honor for the person's sake.
Herbert.
Bate Bate intransitive verb 1. To remit or retrench a part; -- with of . Abate thy speed, and I will bate of mine.
Dryden.
2. To waste away. [ Obsolete]
Shak.
Bate Bate transitive verb To attack; to bait. [ Obsolete]
Spenser.
Bate Bate imperfect of Bite . [ Obsolete]
Spenser.
Bate Bate intransitive verb [ French
battre des ailes to flutter. Confer
Bait to flutter.]
To flutter as a hawk; to bait. [ Obsolete]
Bacon.
Bate Bate noun (Jewish Antiq.) See 2d Bath .
Bate Bate noun [ Confer Swedish
beta maceration, soaking, German
beize , and English
bite .]
An alkaline solution consisting of the dung of certain animals; -- employed in the preparation of hides; grainer. Knight.
Bate Bate transitive verb To steep in bate, as hides, in the manufacture of leather.
Bateau Ba·teau" noun ;
plural Bateaux [ French
bateau , Late Latin
batellus , from
battus ,
batus , boat, which agrees with Anglo-Saxon
bāt boat: confer W.
bad boat. See
Boat ,
noun ]
A boat; esp. a flat-bottomed, clumsy boat used on the Canadian lakes and rivers. [ Written also, but less properly,
batteau .]
Bateau bridge ,
a floating bridge supported by bateaux.
Bated Bat"ed adjective Reduced; lowered; restrained; as, to speak with bated breath. Macaulay.
Bateful Bate"ful adjective Exciting contention; contentious. [ Obsolete] "It did
bateful question frame."
Sidney.
Bateless Bate"less adjective Not to be abated. [ Obsolete]
Shak.
Batement Bate"ment noun [ For
Abatement . See 2d
Bate .]
Abatement; diminution. Moxon. Batement light (Architecture) ,
a window or one division of a window having vertical sides, but with the sill not horizontal, as where it follows the rake of a staircase.
Batfish Bat"fish` noun (Zoology) A name given to several species of fishes: (a) The Malthe vespertilio of the Atlantic coast. (b) The flying gurnard of the Atlantic ( Cephalacanthus spinarella ). (c) The California batfish or sting ray ( Myliobatis Californicus .)
Batfowler Bat"fowl`er noun One who practices or finds sport in batfowling.
Batfowling Bat"fowl`ing noun [ From
Bat a stick.]
A mode of catching birds at night, by holding a torch or other light, and beating the bush or perch where they roost. The birds, flying to the light, are caught with nets or otherwise.
Batful Bat"ful (băt"ful)
adjective [ Icelandic
bati amelioration,
batna to grow better; akin to Anglo-Saxon
bet better. Goth.
ga-batnan to profit. √255. Confer
Batten ,
intransitive verb ,
Better .]
Rich; fertile. [ Obsolete] "
Batful valleys."
Drayton.
Bath Bath (bȧth; 61)
noun ;
plural Baths (bȧ&thlig;z). [ Anglo-Saxon
bęš ; akin to Old Saxon & Icelandic
baš , Swedish , Dan., D., & German
bad , and perhaps to German
bähen to foment.]
1. The act of exposing the body, or part of the body, for purposes of cleanliness, comfort, health, etc., to water, vapor, hot air, or the like; as, a cold or a hot bath ; a medicated bath ; a steam bath ; a hip bath . 2. Water or other liquid for bathing. 3. A receptacle or place where persons may immerse or wash their bodies in water. 4. A building containing an apartment or a series of apartments arranged for bathing. Among the ancients, the public baths were of amazing extent and magnificence.
Gwilt.
5. (Chemistry) A medium, as heated sand, ashes, steam, hot air, through which heat is applied to a body. 6. (Photog.) A solution in which plates or prints are immersed; also, the receptacle holding the solution. »
Bath is used adjectively or in combination, in an obvious sense
of or
for baths or
bathing ; as,
bath room,
bath tub,
bath keeper.
Douche bath .
See Douche . --
Order of the Bath ,
a high order of British knighthood, composed of three classes, viz., knights grand cross, knights commanders, and knights companions, abbreviated thus: G. C. B., K. C. B., K. B. --
Russian bath ,
a kind of vapor bath which consists in a prolonged exposure of the body to the influence of the steam of water, followed by washings and shampooings. --
Turkish bath ,
a kind of bath in which a profuse perspiration is produced by hot air, after which the body is washed and shampooed. --
Bath house ,
a house used for the purpose of bathing; -- also a small house, near a bathing place, where a bather undresses and dresses.
Bath Bath noun [ Hebrew ]
A Hebrew measure containing the tenth of a homer, or five gallons and three pints, as a measure for liquids; and two pecks and five quarts, as a dry measure.
Bath Bath (...; 61)
noun A city in the west of England, resorted to for its hot springs, which has given its name to various objects. Bath brick ,
a preparation of calcareous earth, in the form of a brick, used for cleaning knives, polished metal, etc. --
Bath chair ,
a kind of chair on wheels, as used by invalids at Bath. "People walked out, or drove out, or were pushed out in their
Bath chairs ."
Dickens. --
Bath metal ,
an alloy consisting of four and a half ounces of zinc and one pound of copper. --
Bath note ,
a folded writing paper, 8 1/2 by 14 inches. --
Bath stone ,
a species of limestone (oölite) found near Bath, used for building.
Bathe Bathe (bā&thlig;)
transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Bathed (bā&thlig;d);
present participle & verbal noun Bathing .] [ Middle English
bašien , Anglo-Saxon
bašian , from
bęš bath. See 1st
Bath , and confer
Bay to bathe.]
1. To wash by immersion, as in a bath; to subject to a bath. Chancing to bathe himself in the River Cydnus.
South.
2. To lave; to wet. "The lake which
bathed the foot of the Alban mountain."
T. Arnold. 3. To moisten or suffuse with a liquid. And let us bathe our hands in Cęsar's blood.
Shak.
4. To apply water or some liquid medicament to; as, to bathe the eye with warm water or with sea water; to bathe one's forehead with camphor. 5. To surround, or envelop, as water surrounds a person immersed. "The rosy shadows
bathe me. "
Tennyson. "The bright sunshine
bathing all the world."
Longfellow.
Bathe Bathe intransitive verb 1. To bathe one's self; to take a bath or baths. "They
bathe in summer."
Waller. 2. To immerse or cover one's self, as in a bath. "To
bathe in fiery floods."
Shak. "
Bathe in the dimples of her cheek."
Lloyd. 3. To bask in the sun. [ Obsolete]
Chaucer.
Bathe Bathe noun The immersion of the body in water; as, to take one's usual bathe . Edin. Rev.
Bather Bath"er (bā&thlig;"ẽr)
noun One who bathes.
Bathetic Ba·thet"ic adjective Having the character of bathos. [ R.]
Bathing Bath"ing noun Act of taking a bath or baths. Bathing machine ,
a small room on wheels, to be driven into the water, for the convenience of bathers, who undress and dress therein.
Bathmism Bath"mism noun See Vital force .
Bathometer Ba·thom"e·ter noun [ Greek
ba`qos depth +
-meter .]
An instrument for measuring depths, esp. one for taking soundings without a sounding line.
Bathorse Bat"horse` noun [ French
bāt packsaddle (cheval de
bāt packhorse) + English
horse . See
Bastard .]
A horse which carries an officer's baggage during a campaign.
Bathos Ba"thos (bā"thŏs)
noun [ Greek
ba`qos depth, from
baqy`s deep.]
(Rhet.) A ludicrous descent from the elevated to the low, in writing or speech; anticlimax.
Bathybius Ba·thyb"i·us noun [ New Latin , from Greek
baqy`s deep +
bi`os life]
(Zoology) A name given by Prof. Huxley to a gelatinous substance found in mud dredged from the Atlantic and preserved in alcohol. He supposed that it was free living protoplasm, covering a large part of the ocean bed. It is now known that the substance is of chemical, not of organic, origin.
Bathygraphic Bath`y·graph"ic adjective [ Greek ... deep +
graphic .]
Descriptive of the ocean depth; as, a bathygraphic chart.
Bathymetric, Bathymetrical Bath`y·met"ric, Bath`y·met"ric·al adjective Pertaining to bathymetry; relating to the measurement of depths, especially of depths in the sea.
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