bat v.
(orig. US)1. to move, to travel.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Wilds of London (1881) 143: Bat up, Poll, keep the pot a-bilin’. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Night Club Era 28: Once he had batted around the country, not caring what happened to him. | |
| Absolute Beginners 197: So I batted along, and I tried to make conversation with the kiddo. | |
| Crust on its Uppers 164: For all they knew Marchmare could be happily batting on to the next town. | |
| Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 159: I got out of the office fast, tumbled into my trusty 1100 and batted off to Paddington. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | (con. 1920s) Legs 115: I’m going to bat it through to the coast. |
2. (US, also bat around, ...round) to idle, to waste one’s time; to wander (aimlessly).
| George’s Mother (2001) 94: I can’t fin’ me feet in dis bloomin’ joint. I been battin’ round heh fer a half-hour. | |
| N.-Y. American 11 Aug. in Unforgettable Season (1981) 163: People who spend Sunday batting around Coney Island [...] do not generally posess any pepper on washday. | |
| Big Town iv: It wound up by us going to New York too. We seen a picture and batted round till midnight. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 24: Batting.—Travelling aimlessly and without purpose. | |
| ‘Just a Little One’ in Parker (1943) 68: It hurts me to see you batting around the way you’ve been doing. | |
| On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 198: For God’s sake, you can’t be batting around tents with a baby. | |
| Mama Black Widow 64: Do Hattie know yu battin’ round wif him? | |
| Duke of Deception (1990) 6: After Yale [...] my father batted around the country, living a high life. |
3. to overcome, to beat.
| Tales of the Ex-Tanks 345: It would be poetic retribution if we could [...] bat the bank of the man who fired you. |
4. (also bat around) to hit; thus ext. as bat around, bat down etc; n. batting, a beating; cite 2006 refers spec. to the use of a table-tennis bat [SE to mid-19C].
| Mr Dooley’s Philosophy 25: A man bats me in th’ eye an’ I call f’r th’ polis. | |
| Times (Shreveport, LA) 12 May 3/5: His duty is to ‘mooch spangle’ (beg money) and ‘bat’ (knock at a door) for ‘dukies’ or ‘lumps’ (a lunch). | |
| Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 57: ‘[A] good battin’ ’d do that guy no harm’. | |
| Everlasting Mercy 11: Billy bats / Some stinging short-arms in my slats. | |
| Mutt & Jeff 26 Jan. [synd. strip] Mention the rent again and I’ll bat you in the eye. | |
| Big Town 177: Set down before I bat you down! | |
| Little Caesar (1932) 155: You thought you could bat me around and make me like it. | |
| Tropic of Capricorn (1964) 236: I felt like batting her one in the eye. | |
| ‘Coffin Custodian’ Ten Detective Aces Apr. 🌐 You see, his fighter, Slug-daffy Harney, batted a young girl to death one night in a drunken rage. | |
| ‘Don’t Give Your Right Name’ in Goulart (1967) 30: I just love to bat people around. | |
| Always Leave ’Em Dying 136: I figured I was dead, anyway, and what the hell, I’d bat these beggars with my dismembered limbs as long as I could. | |
| Pop. 1280 in Four Novels (1983) 421: The men grabbed ahold of me and began to bat me around. | |
| Godfather 246: I had to bat my wife around again today, teach her who’s boss. | |
| Spike Island (1981) 311: Next minute there’d be a bloody vanload there, battin’ hell outa yer! | |
| Observer Rev. 26 Sept. 2: If you said the wrong thing, I’d bat you one. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Intractable [ebook] One day ‘Mad Dog’ snuck up behind Schneidas in the exercise yard and batted him (attacked him with a wooden tennis paddle). |
5. (US campus) to earn a grade.
| ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 22: bat, v. to make a perfect recitation. | |
| Okolona Messenger (MS) 22 Oct. 3/1: College slang [...] a student [...] may ‘bat’ (make a perfect recitation). |
6. (US) to drink.
| More Ex-Tank Tales 54: I had only batted ’em a little in Cincinnati. |
7. (US) to act, to conduct oneself.
| One Man’s War (1929) 222: He bats pretty high with the folks on the British isles. | |
| Let Tomorrow Come 87: He’ll still be battin’ around on that stump. | |
| (con. 1920s) Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 358: Messing the dope’s manly vaseline locks, twisting his nose, and if he batted wise, giving him the works. | |
| Best that Ever Did It (1957) 70: Maybe some private eyes can bat along on no shut-eye, but not me. |
8. to complain; thus at the bat, critical, nagging.
| letter 25 Sept. in Riggio Dreiser-Mencken Letters II (1986) 359: The old bitch is forever at the bat. | |
| Tomboy (1952) 107: Aw, Christ, the old lady was batting it again. |
In derivatives
a puncher, a hitter.
| Tough Guy [ebook] ‘Fight back!’ Dineen was shouting at Joey, backslapping at Georgie to keep the blackhaired batter away. |
In phrases
see separate entry.
1. to offer one’s support, to stand up for someone or something.
| Crazy Kill 86: He had Dulcy batting for him. | |
| Listener 2 Nov. 737/3: Two contributors, finally, bat for Christianity . | |
| New Scientist Vol.59 398/2: I know which government minister I would like to have had batting for Britain in Brussels a fortnight ago—Margaret Thatcher. | |
| Guardian 1 Jul. 🌐 Bingham resumed his drifting, ending up in his childhood home of Kentucky, batting for the doomed senatorial campaign of Dr Harvey Sloane, a Democrat behind whom his family had traditionally thrown its considerable weight. | |
| Observer 10 Jul. 🌐 Peter Mandelson, the EU’s trade commissioner, is the man who will be batting for Europe in Hong Kong, balancing powerful vested interests in the 25 countries he represents against the needs of the poor. |
2. to substitute for.
| ‘On Broadway’ 21 May [synd. col.] Dorothy Thompson, very ill, went on the air Tuesday evening – although others [...] were standing by to bat for her – in case she couldn’t. | |
| Paper Tiger 53: [B]atting for a [fraternity] brother who was in the hospital. |
to be homosexual.
| Indep. Rev. 30 June 12: Every other man I see strikes me as potentially batting for the other side. | |
 | Drunk Girls Homepage 4 Oct. 🌐 Floyd, does Lynette Kerry swing both ways or bat for the other team? Her pictures seem to indicate the latter. | |
| ‘Be My Alibi’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] [W]hat jocked-out straight guy would think to pretend he’s batting for the other team? | |
| Twitter 16 Mar. 🌐 I think, like me, Tommy Twinkie bats for the other team. |
(Aus.) to masturbate.
| Real Thing 189: Some of the dishes she serves up’ll make you want to start batting yourself off. | |
| me-stepmums-too-fuckin-hot-mate at www.fakku.net 🌐 if you’re pitching a tent like that, fuck knows you’re not gonna be doin’ anything other battin’ off. |
1. (US, also bat one’s head) to work oneself to exhaustion.
| Mister Roberts 218: You know how he batted his head to get off of here? | |
| N.Y. Folklore Quarterly 295: It was a rugged trip, weather bad and the crew really batted themselves out [HDAS]. |
2. to be penniless.
| Street Corner Society (1955) 115: Doc once commented: I’m batted out. I’m so batted out that I didn’t have a nickel to put on the number today. |
(US) to talk.
| (con. 1920s) Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 578: I hadn’t batted my mouth open. |
to create, e.g. write, a rough/draft version.
| Quick Brown Fox 232: Ray was sitting at his typewriter, trying to bat out a feature story. | |
| Woodward and Bernstein 81: They batted out the first draft—seven hundred pages double-spaced. |
(US) to pester, to nag.
| Naked and Dead 61: Brown’s been batting my ear about how good Stanley is. |
(US) to gossip, to chatter.
| Our Army Oct. 17: We were batting ’em out, talking over things in general [HDAS]. |
1. to take action, to involve oneself with a specific task or job, to take a stance.
| ‘The Wedding’ in Sandburrs 176: D’ priest is goin’ to bat an’ says, ‘Is there any duck here to give d’ bride away?’. | |
| Boss 186: You can tell by th’ way they go to bat, whether th’ Blackberry has signed up to them to kill our franchise. | |
| ‘Zigzags of Treachery’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 119: I’m satisfied to go to bat with what I’ve got on you. | |
| ‘Facing the Mob’ in Gangland Stories Feb. 🌐 Jimmy goes to bat, stakes us for all the expenses—and he buried the old lady when she croaks. | |
| Swell-Looking Babe 43: He thought enough of this issue to go to bat on it. | |
| Choirboys (1976) 139: The way you’re going to bat to get the old man back in the laughing academy. |
2. (also come to the bat) to take one’s turn.
| Chimmie Fadden and Mr Paul 23: De foist mug to come to de bat [...] was Charlie Wu Lung. | |
| Carlito’s Way 124: It’s a goddam shame he’s such a sorehead and I gotta go to bat with Mickey Rooney. |
3. to be prosecuted in court; to receive a jail sentence.
| ‘Und. and Its Vernacular’ in Clues mag. 158–62: going to bat Going to trial. | |
| ‘Prison Lingo’ AS II:6 281/2: Go to bat – To get one’s sentence. | |
| ‘The Three Wise Guys’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 409: The judge throws the book at him when he finally goes to bat. | |
| Rebellion of Leo McGuire (1953) 50: If you want to go to bat on this thing it’s swell with me. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| In For Life 57: I was looking more criminal by the minute as time neared for me to go to bat for my life before the judge. | |
| Rap Sheet 43: We went to bat in Macleod on five charges. | |
| , | | DAS 22/1: go to bat To be sentenced to prison. |
| Hustler 174: I spent six months up there goin’ back and forth to court before I got my time. I went to bat [f.n.] on the sale first. [f.n. Go to bat—go to trial] [ibid.] 182: Next day we went to bat, and got four days apiece. | |
| Airtight Willie and Me 111: He went to bat for wasting three of ’em, but he beat those raps. | |
| (con. 1920s) Legs 67: He’d been in the can for three days before going to bat and being freed that morning by the judge. |
(US) to act in support of, to back up.
| Cappy Ricks 344: I’ll go to bat for you and back you for the last dollar. | |
| in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 28: The good hearted sports all over the country came to bat for little Terry {McGovern} and piled up a fund of $12,000 for him. | |
| letter c.7 Sept. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 217: The author of Gatsby le Magnifique will be backed by at least as many people as went to bat for Dreyfuss. | |
| ‘Angelfish’ in Goulart (1967) 245: I like her, even if she is funny. And I’m going to bat for her. | |
| Rebellion of Leo McGuire (1953) 217: You couldn’t expect the First Ward Irish to go to bat for an East Side punk. | |
| Rap Sheet 21: The colonel’s daughter went to bat for me, but it didn’t do no good. | |
| Cannibals 401: He has no rabbi, no bishop, nobody to go to bat for him. | |
| Doing Time 190: go to bat: to help or support someone. | |
| Neddy (1998) 266: You are fortunate there were a lot of police present when it took place and a lot of them went into bat for you when they were asked to give their versions of the incident. | |
| 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 186: Going to bat for Mama were the director of the Social Development Commission [...] and CYD’s Jeanetta Robinson. They pleaded for leniency. | |
| Big Ask 197: Can’t see Howard Sharpe or Mike McGrath going in to bat for you over charges like that. | |
| Observer Mag. 11 June 14: Self repeatedly told Hutton that there was no truth in the story, and Hutton went out to bat for him on that basis. |