bat n.1
1. (also bat of Venus) a prostitute or promiscuous woman [like the creatures, they appear at night].
 | Lacrymae Lacrymarum 101: Bats, Harpies, Syrens, Centaurs, Bib-all-nights [F&H]. | |
| Dutch Riddle 1/2: Like Owls and Bats, it [i.e. the vagina] loves the Night. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Sporting Mag. Nov. IX 99/1: Behold the bats of Venus, that flitter along the streets every evening. | |
| Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: Bat. A low whore: so called from moving out like bats in the dusk of the evening. | |
| Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Scene in a London Flash-Panny’ Vocabulum 100: You lie, you bat. I couple with no cove but my own. | |
| ‘On the Trail’ in Sl. Dict. (1890) 44: You lie, you bat. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Aus. Sl. Dict. 7: Bat, a street walker who travels by night. | |
| ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 22: bat, n. A loose woman. | |
| ‘Word-List From The Northwest’ in DN IV:i 28: tommy, n. A girl. Also called [...] bat. | |
| ‘College Sl. Words And Phrases’ in DN IV:iii 231: bat, n. A prostitute. | |
| ‘Und. “Lingo” Brought Up-to-Date’ L.A. Times 8 Nov. K3: BAT: A woman of the streets. | |
| Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. | |
| N.Y. Amsterdam News 15 Jan. 10A: The cats and the bats [...] played like mad in the backbeat 12. | |
| et al. DAUL 24/1: Bat. 1. A prostitute or loose woman. | |
| World’s Toughest Prison 790: bat – A prostitute. | |
| (con. 1890s) in Hellhole 161: Criminals whom Molly still designates by the names with which she first learned to identify them: [...] ‘bats or owls’ – streetwalkers who work at night. | |
| Erections, Ejaculations etc. 68: You crazy bat [...] I swear I’m going to kill you! | |
| Lowspeak. | |
| (ref. to 1930s) City in Sl. (1995) 46: An utterly fallen woman [...] was less often called an alley bat, the bat being a prostitute who works the street by night. | |
| Da Bomb 🌐 2: Bat: A prostitute. |
2. (orig. US) a foolish, worthless person.
| Old Hunks in Darkey Drama 5 42: De old bat ain’t worth a pin widout his spectacles! | |
| Truth (Sydney) 17 June 4/6: Deluded bat, do you realise a tithe of the fun your are causing [...] all over Australia. | |
| ‘Slaves of the Lamp — Part I’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 61: You aren’t going up for the Army, you old bat. | |
| Girl Proposition 131: They told her that Gilbert was an all-night Bat and a Sport and that he had a Past. | |
| ‘A Word-List From Kansas’ in DN IV:ii 103: bat, n. A disorderly or dissolute person. | |
| Rampant Age 177: He sure musta been a tough bat. | |
| On the Waterfront (1964) 215: Remembering not to get into a word-wingdo with this trigger-phrased little bat. | |
| (con. 1961) Spend, Spend, Spend Scene 11: I couldn’t help myself, you daft bat! | |
| Bonfire of the Vanities 459: Whyn’t you let him sit out here somewheres insteada putting him in there with that buncha bats? | |
| Observer Rev. 29 Aug. 9: There’s this guy, big fucker, massive fuck-off bat. | |
| Man-Eating Typewriter 137: ‘Them fucking queens, the lucky bats’. |
3. an unattractive woman, often old; note earlier old bat
| Milk and Honey Route 201: Broad or brod – A woman, generally young and opposite of bat or blister, which means an old woman. | |
| ‘Negro Sl. in Lincoln University’ in AS IX:4 287: bat. Any unattractive girl. | |
| ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. | |
| Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 4: Each and everything must be mellow and no bats allowed. The party is for the able and the lame should know the score if you’re not in step it’s time to blow. | |
| ‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxii 6/1: bat: Young or old ugly female. | |
| Adolescence 250: Girls are judged very harshly. The girl who is pegged as a scab, a shank, a bat, or an ox may be shattered forever. | |
| Third Ear n.p.: bat n. an ugly female. | |
| The Spy Who Came... 20: I [...] glared at the old bat. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 144: Other derogatory terms for women liken their unattractiveness to animals [...] Terms like [...] beast, bat, and boogabear. | |
| You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 206: What self-respecting tart, even if she was a bat, would want to jump in the cot with you? | |
| Observer Mag. 1 May. 35/2: The flourish was different [...] not being the same sex as old bats. | |
| (con. 1943) Irish Fandango [ebook] This was getting tricky. The old bat knew far more than he did. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Rules of Revelation 251: Noreen Cusack [...] a dreadful bat even before she hit forty. |
4. a quarrelsome, unpleasant woman.
| Campus Sl. Oct. 1: bat – female with any undesirable quality, but usually crankiness or unfairness. |
5. (US gay) a male homosexual.
| Gay Detective (2003) 96: That’s mostly for the rich old aunties and bats like that. | |
| Queens’ Vernacular. |
In compounds
1. (Aus.) a brothel.
| 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases. |
2. see also under bat n.5
(N.Z. gay) a single mattress that can be brought out to expand the area a male sex worker uses to entertain the client.
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 77: [S]ome contemporary male sex workers use the term batmat (a single mattress stored under a bed, that can be brought out to expand the site into a larger area when entertaining a client). |
(N.Z. gay) pornography.
| ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 77: [S]ome contemporary male sex workers use the term bat material (pornography). |
(N.Z. gay) a towel for post-sex cleaning.
| ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 77: [S]ome contemporary male sex workers use the term batrag (a towel used for cleaning up after sex. |
In phrases
see sense 1 above.
an unattractive or foolish old woman; occas. of a man.
| in N.Y. Press 20 Oct. in Stallman (1966) 82: [to a man] ‘Go ahead, you old bat.’. | |
| Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 81: She’s an old bat, ain’t she? | |
| Eve. World (NY) 22 Aug. 8/5: There were about twenty old bats in the car. | |
| ‘Dialect Words and Phrases from West-Central West Virginia’ in AS II:8 348: bat, an old (noun phrase), a woman of ill fame. | |
| Thieves Like Us (1999) 132: He brought an old bat in here last night. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| Mad mag. Nov. 27: If you see the old bat acting up ... let ’er have it again! | |
| Scrambled Yeggs 16: Calling on a lady, I wanted my shoes shined even if she turned out to be an old bat. | |
| He who Shoots Last 91: She wuz da roughest lookin’ old bat. | |
| The Same Old Grind 111: ‘The old bat is really crocked [...] Some of these beat-up old hags can drink more than a man’. | |
| Fixx 199: The mad old bat tugged and pulled to get at me. | |
| (con. early 1950s) L.A. Confidential 103: The old bat said, ‘You remind me of that policeman on that television programme.’. | |
| Guardian G2 2 July 18: Mad old bat. | |
| Observer 2 Jan. 26: Films always seem to need some old bat shuffling around in a wheelchair. | |
| Leather Maiden 161: The one [i.e. news story] the old bat had wanted me to look into. | |
| Split Decision [ebook] That didn’t mean the old bat’s all-seeing eyes weren’t on us. | |
| Stoning 238: ‘The old bat’s brain has rotted’. |
working as a prostitute (cf. batter v. (2)).
| Lowspeak. |
SE in slang uses
In derivatives
see separate entry.
In compounds
see separate entry.
see separate entries.
see under batshit n.
see separate entries.
(US) paper money, esp. a $1 bill.
| ‘Sl. Terms for Money’ in AS IV:5 357: The term bat hides, meaning money. | |
| , | | DAS. |
(US) the very best, the ultimate.
| Marines 9: ‘This here R ’n’ R’s the bat’s balls,’ one of the officers [...] roared [HDAS]. |
see separate entries.
nonsense, rubbish; something that wastes one’s time.
| Curvy Lovebox 71: I don’t do house calls for a loada batwank. |
see separate entries.
In phrases
In exclamations
nonsense!
| Mister Roberts II v: roberts: Why, what Dolan said—one of my letters turned up . . . doc: Bat crap! |