Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a drinking spree; usu. in phr. on the batter, engaged in some form of hedonist activity.

1837		‘Love in the City’ in Bentley’s Misc. June 587: We both were late [...] I, at Vauxhall; and Bob, upon the batter.
1846		D. Corcoran Pickings from N.O. Picayune 112: Though I should go upon the batter / To others it should make no matter.
1856		Knickerbocker (N.Y.) xlviii (Nov.) 502: Ellis had just returned from a prolonged batter in Paris.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 4: ‘on the batter,’ literally ‘on the streets,’ or given up to roistering and debauchery.
1868		London Dly News 25 Sept. 5/1: No more tight than we were, wasn’t he? [...] —Then what made him so precious fishy about the gills if he hadn’t been out on the batter the night before.
1870		Mercury (Hobart) 23 Apr. 2/5: [from the Stranraer Free Press] [...] on the skyte, on the spree, on the batter.
1877		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (1st ser.) 142: He had been on the batther, and listed.
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 2 Oct. 7/1: [headline] Old Broadbrim’s Batter/ Which Took Him to a Variety Show, Filled Him with Champagne and Transformed Him into One of the Ungodly.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Aug. 9/2: George Selwyn, the old married man that went ‘on the batter,’ was played by Mr. J. G. Joyce.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 7: Batter,‘on the town,’ given up to debauchery.
1899		R. Whiteing No. 5 John Street 214: ‘D’ye call that goin’ on the batter?’ I kin fancy ’im sayin’, when the other was braggin’ o’ one of ’is larks.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 11: ‘On the batter,’ [...] given up to debauchery.
1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 345: Batter (To go on the). To indulge in a drinking bout.
1927		P. O’Donnell Islanders (1933) 141: An’ Mary Manus is goin’ to keep Manus off the batter.
1931		O. Strange Law O’ The Lariat 247: When he lost his wife it broke him up; he let go all holts an’ went on the batter, drinkin’ an’ gamblin’ with a mighty hard crowd.
1945		J. Sommerfield ‘Squadron Move’ in Lehmann Penguin New Writing No. 26 22: We looked like we’d been on the booze and the batter for a week and finished up with a night in the gutter.
1950		S. Murphy Stone Mad (1966) 165: Many’s the batter we went on an’ we were no worse for it.
1985		T. Murphy Conversations on a Homecoming (1986) 11: JJ was up in Daly’s earlier. On another batter.
1991		R. Doyle Van (1998) 575: D’yeh know wha’ we need, Bimbo? he said [...] – Wha’? said Bimbo. – A night on the batter, said Jimmy Sr.
1993		S. Heaney Midnight Verdict 32: Playing his tunes, on sprees and batters.
2000		J. Hawes Dead Long Enough 13: If you cannot hack life [...] after just one pathetic little old-fashioned night on the batter, you should not be doing it at all.
2016		V. McDermid Out of Bounds (2017) 161: ‘On the batter with my flatmates. It was Matt’s birthday’.