bat

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I argued again and again and again that not opening Palin up to the press right off the bat was a horrible idea.

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Definitions (84)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (21)

  1. noun A stout wooden stick; a cudgel.
  2. noun A blow, such as one delivered with a stick.
  3. noun Baseball A rounded, often wooden club, wider and heavier at the hitting end and tapering at the handle, used to strike the ball.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (38)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (15)

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Examples (50)

  • If you pass the test The professor finished his inspection with a surprising result: the bat was alive. —  AnalogSFF,July-August2007
  • The Inca in Gray had become a symbol of terror, just as the bat is the symbol of the night. —  032 - Dust of Death
  • "His ability to swing the bat is his biggest strength," Kemp said. —  Maine News Updates - Central Maine Newspapers, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel
  • I argued again and again and again that not opening Palin up to the press right off the bat was a horrible idea. —  Donklephant
  • Carlos Villanueva, who spent 2007 in the bullpen, to Triple-A. 2007 first round draft pick Matt LaPorta bat is almost major league ready, but he has no where to play - and left field remains a big stretch. —  Baseball Analysts
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

lizard ·  rat ·  owl ·  spider ·  snake ·  monkey ·  frog ·  insect ·  bird ·  eagle ·  rabbit ·  pigeon

Used in the same contextWord Family

bat:   bats ·  batted ·  batting
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (10)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. Middle English, perhaps partly of Celtic origin and partly from Old French batte, pounding implement, flail (from batre, to beat; see batter1).
  2. Alteration of Middle English bakke, of Scandinavian origin.
  3. Probably a variant of bate2.
  4. Probably from batter, spree.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. from Middle English bat, batte, botte, the earliest recorded forms being dative singular botte, nominative plural botten (nominative singular *bat, *bot?), pointing to an Anglo-Saxon *bat (genitive dative *batte), given by Somner, but not authenticated, apparently from Irish Gaelic bat, bata, a staff, cudgel. But in part at least the word rests on Old French batte, French batte, a rammer, a wand, apparently from battre, beat: see batter. Some of the noun senses are from the verb (see bat, v.), while others are perhaps from orig. different sources.
  2. from late Middle English batten, beat with a stick, from batte, a bat, stick: see bat, n., and cf. batter. In part perhaps regarded as imitative of a heavy, dull blow; cf. pat.
  3. A corruption of earlier back, bak, Scots back, bak (also bakie-bird, bawkie-bird), a bat, from Middle English bakke, backe, from Danish bakke, in comp. aftenbakke, evening-bat, = Old Swedish bakka, in comp. natt-bakka, night-jar, Swedish dial. nattabatta, nattblacka, = Icelandic blaka, in comp. ledhr-blaka, bat, literally leather-flapper, from blaka, flutter, flap. The orig. form is uncertain. Cf. Middle Latin blatta, blacta, batta, a bat, another application of Latin blatta, an insect that shuns the light, a cockroach: see Blatta. For the change of k to t, cf. English make = mate, and English crane = Danish trane, Swedish trana, Icelandic trani. The Anglo-Saxon name of the bat is hrēremūs, later English reremouse. The G. name is fledermaus; cf. English flittermouse.
  4. Variant of bate, prob. now taken in allusion to the eyes of a bat.
  5. from French bât, from Old French bast, a pack-saddle: see bast.
  6. Hindustani bāt, a weight, a measure of weight.
 

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