bat

bat — noun

1. a long, smooth wooden stick with a handle that players swing to strike a moving

1.nounA2
Definition

a long, smooth wooden stick with a handle that players swing to strike a moving ball — for example, in baseball, cricket, or table tennis.

Example

Amara picked up her baseball bat and walked toward home plate.

compound: baseball bat

Nikolai swung the cricket bat hard and sent the ball over the fence.

verb collocation: swing a bat

Common collocations
  • baseball bat
  • cricket bat
  • swing a bat
  • grip the bat
  • wooden bat
  • aluminum bat
Synonyms
  • club

    broader; covers golf and other heavy hitting tools, not used for table tennis

  • racket

    stringed frame for tennis or badminton; shape and use differ from a bat

  • paddle

    American English for the small bat used in table tennis or pickleball

Usage Note

In American English, a flat paddle for table tennis is usually called a paddle; British English calls the same thing a bat.

Common Mistakes

He hit the ball with a stick.' (when meaning a sports tool)
He hit the ball with a bat.
in baseball or cricket, the proper word is bat, not stick.

2. a small furry mammal with thin leathery wings that hunts insects or fruit at nig

2.nounB1
Definition

a small furry mammal with thin leathery wings that hunts insects or fruit at night and rests upside down during the day, often inside caves or roofs.

Example

Hundreds of bats poured out of the cave at sunset and chased insects.

plural subject: bats poured out

A bat flew through Lior's kitchen window and frightened the cat.

subject-verb pattern: bat flew

Common collocations
  • fruit bat
  • vampire bat
  • a colony of bats
  • bats hang upside down
  • bats fly at night
Synonyms
  • flying fox

    informal name for large fruit-eating bats found in tropical regions

Usage Note

Often appears in Halloween or horror imagery alongside vampires, witches, and dark caves; the cultural connotation can be spooky even though the animal itself is harmless to people.

Common Mistakes

A bat is a kind of bird.
A bat is a kind of mammal.
bats have fur and feed milk to their young; only their wings make them seem bird-like.

3. a player's chance to stand at the plate and try to hit pitches in baseball or cr

3.noun
Definition

a player's chance to stand at the plate and try to hit pitches in baseball or cricket, lasting until the player is out or finishes the round.

Example

Jin got two hits during his first bat of the game on Sunday.

noun phrase: his first bat

Each batter is allowed only one bat per inning in this junior league.

phrase: one bat per inning

Common collocations
  • a turn at bat
  • during his bat
  • first bat of the game
Synonyms
  • at-bat

    more standard term in baseball statistics and sports journalism

  • innings

    British, used in cricket for a player or team's batting turn

Usage Note

Mostly heard in informal sports talk; in formal baseball writing, 'at-bat' or 'plate appearance' is more common. Distinguish from sense 1 (the physical stick).

Common Mistakes

It is my bat now.' (when meaning your turn)
It is my turn at bat now.
the phrase 'at bat' makes the meaning clear; 'my bat' alone usually suggests the stick.
Idioms

off your own bat

idiom

without anyone asking, suggesting, or helping you — the idea and effort are entirely yours.

Nikolai raised three hundred dollars for the shelter off his own bat.

The intern fixed the broken database off his own bat over the weekend.

right off the bat

idiom

at the very start of something, without any pause or delay.

Right off the bat, the new manager fired three senior staff members.

Jin asked for a raise right off the bat in his second meeting.

like a bat out of hell

idiom

moving or leaving very quickly, as if escaping from danger.

Amara drove away from the parking lot like a bat out of hell.

The cat shot out of the bathroom like a bat out of hell when the dog barked.

(as) blind as a bat

idiom

having very poor eyesight, often used humorously.

Without his thick glasses, Grandpa is as blind as a bat.

Nikolai is blind as a bat at night and refuses to drive after dark.

at bat

idiom

A turn to try to hit the ball in baseball or softball.

Maya stepped up to the plate for her first at bat.

How many at bats did Diego have in yesterday's game?

bat — verb

Word family

  • batter
    nounB2
  • batsman
    nounB2
  • batting
    nounB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words name a tool for hitting a ball, but each one belongs to its own sport. A bat is a long stick with a handle, used in baseball, cricket, and (in British English) table tennis. A racket has a frame with strings stretched across it and is used in tennis, badminton, and squash; you would never call a racket a bat. A club is heavier and has a small head at one end, made for golf or hockey, where the ball sits on the ground rather than coming through the air. A paddle is a flat board, usually with a short handle, used in table tennis (American English) and pickleball. So Amara swings a bat at a baseball, Nikolai holds a racket on a tennis court, Jin chooses a club on the golf course, and Zara picks up a paddle for table tennis at her local club.

bat ↗racketclub ↗paddle

Common collocations

Nouns

  • baseball bat
  • cricket bat
  • fruit bat
  • vampire bat
  • bat colony
  • bat wings

Adverbs

  • batted brilliantly
  • batted poorly
  • batted gently

Phrases

Prepositions

  • bat at (something)
  • bat for (a team)
  • bat against (an opponent)

Etymology

CelticOld EnglishOld NorseMiddle EnglishModern English

The two main meanings of 'bat' come from completely different roots that happen to look the same in modern English. The animal name comes from Old Norse and was originally something like 'ledhrblaka', meaning 'leather flapper' — a reference to the creature's leathery wings. By Middle English it had been shortened and reshaped to 'bakke', and later changed into 'bat'. The hitting-stick meaning is older still, going back to an Old English word 'batt' meaning a heavy club, probably borrowed from a Celtic source. The verb 'to bat the ball' grew naturally out of the noun in the 1500s. The eyelash sense is the youngest, recorded from the early 1800s and probably linked to an old word 'bate' meaning to flutter, used of hawks beating their wings.