bat
bat [bat bats batted batting] noun, verb BrE [bæt] NAmE [bæt]
noun 
1. a piece of wood with a handle, made in various shapes and sizes, and used for hitting the ball in games such as ↑baseball, ↑cricket and ↑table tennis
•a baseball/cricket bat
compare ↑racket
2. an animal like a mouse with wings, that flies and feeds at night (= it is ↑nocturnal ). There are many types of bat.
see also ↑fruit bat, ↑old bat, ↑vampire bat
more at blind as a bat at ↑blind adj., right off the bat at ↑right adv.
Word Origin:
n. sense 1 and v. late Old English batt ‘club, stick, staff’ Old French batte battre ‘to strike’ n. sense 2 late 16th cent. medieval Latin batta blacta Middle English bakke Scandinavian
late 19th cent. bat ‘to wink, blink’ bate ‘to flutter’
Idioms: ↑bat a thousand ▪ ↑bat your eyes ▪ ↑go to bat for somebody ▪ ↑like a bat out of hell ▪ ↑not bat an eyelid ▪ ↑off your own bat
Derived: ↑bat something around
verb (-tt-)
1. intransitive, transitive ~ (sth) to hit a ball with a bat, especially in a game of ↑cricket or ↑baseball
•He bats very well.
•Who's batting first for the Orioles?
2. transitive ~ sth + adv./prep. to hit sth small that is flying through the air
•He batted the wasp away.
Verb forms: 
Word Origin:
n. sense 1 and v. late Old English batt ‘club, stick, staff’ Old French batte battre ‘to strike’ n. sense 2 late 16th cent. medieval Latin batta blacta Middle English bakke Scandinavian
late 19th cent. bat ‘to wink, blink’ bate ‘to flutter’
Example Bank:
•He went to bat, two runs down, with his team about to lose.
•Hick went in to bat after Hussain.
•India won the toss and put England in to bat.
•She really went to bat for me.
•Smith was first to bat for Warwickshire.
See also: ↑not bat an eye
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