bats
adjective
[ bats ]
• (of a person) mad.
Origin:
early 20th century: from the phrase have bats in the belfry (see bat2).
bat
noun
• an implement with a handle and a solid surface, typically of wood, used for hitting the ball in games such as cricket, baseball, and table tennis.
• "a cricket bat"
bat
verb
• (of a sports team or player) take the role of hitting rather than throwing the ball.
• "Australia reached 263 for 4 after choosing to bat"
• hit at (someone or something) with the flat of one's hand.
• "he batted the flies away"
Origin:
late Old English batt ‘club, stick, staff’, perhaps partly from Old French batte, from battre ‘to strike’.
bat
noun
• a mainly nocturnal mammal capable of sustained flight, with membranous wings that extend between the fingers and limbs.
• a woman regarded as unattractive or unpleasant.
• "some deranged old bat"
Origin:
late 16th century: alteration, perhaps by association with medieval Latin batta, blacta, of Middle English bakke, of Scandinavian origin.
bat
verb
• flutter (one's eyelashes or eyelids), typically in a flirtatious manner.
• "she batted her long dark eyelashes at him"
Origin:
late 19th century (originally US): from dialect and US bat ‘to wink, blink’, variant of obsolete bate ‘to flutter’.
