bat n.2
1. (US/Aus.) the penis; thus (Aus.) (go off the) bat, to masturbate; bat and balls, the penis and testicles; bat(ting) material, pornographic books or magazines; batter, a man with a large penis; one of a number of terms equating the penis with a stick or rod.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Nocturnal Revels 2 61: His Grace thought it a disgrace to have any connexion [...] with anyone that was not a profesed cricketer. This [...] accounts for his late intrigue with Lady D—y, who [...] can handle a batt and knock the balls about, with almost any Peer in England. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘They Can’t Do That’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 233: And a fly-ball comes and drags you out / And fans you with a loaded bat. | |
| ‘Lou Gehrig Goes West’ [comic strip] in Tijuana Bibles (1997) 118: I’ll have this bat of mine up again and we’ll play another innings. | |
 | ‘Don’t Come Too Soon’ 🎵 Get a grip on your bat and smack a few balls / Come on over / But please don’t come too soon. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 16: balls and bat The testicles and penis. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Argot in Simes DAUS 4: Bat, the penis; so to go off the bat, masturbate. | |
| in Graffiti 109: Men with short bats stand close to the plate. | |
| Queens’ Vernacular 28: bat 1. large penis. [...] batter a man who has a [sic] anatomically large organ. | |
| Dict. Aus. Swearing & Sex Sayings 15: BAT — Male masturbation, usually in prison. | |
| Real Thing 189: Some of the dishes she serves up’ll make you want to start batting yourself. | |
| Gay Perspectives 54: In prisons and the military one-handed reading matter is stick-books , while prisoners also talk about bat material. | |
| Urban Dict. 17 May 🌐 Batting material is another word for Pornography or Eye candy. | |
| Intractable 393: Batted [sic] masturbation. |
2. a hard blow [note 14C–17C bat, a hard blow with a club or staff].
| ‘The Disasters of Poor Jerry Blossom’ Universal Songster I 21/2: A lass ga ma a nation hard bat e the chops. | |
| Six Days in the Metropolis 28: I give her a bat side of the head, but you don’t call that assaulting her, do ye? | |
| Sister Carrie 465: ‘Get out of this!’ cried the officer, swinging his club. ‘I’ll give you a bat on the sconce.’. | |
| ‘Two Battlers and a Bear’ in Lone Hand (Sydney) Oct. 600/1: ‘What he wants is a bat side th’ ’ead when he starts yowlin’ fer things’. | |
| Everlasting Mercy 62: She made one rush and gi’m a bat / And shook him like a dog a rat. | |
| Mr Standfast (1930) 697: The Canadians live over the fence from us, but you mix up a Canuck with a Yank in your remarks and you’ll get a bat in the eye. | |
| Gas-House McGinty 99: Mame gave him a bat in the snoot. | |
| ‘Too Many Diamonds’ in Spicy Detective Stories Nov. 🌐 A guy can take a hell of a bat over the dome if he’s got one of these things on. | |
| Digger’s Game (1981) 11: I give you a bat in the head. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Filth 326: She steps oot ay line, she gits a bat in the mooth, that’s it. |
3. a thug, a ‘hard man’.
| Hoosier Mosaics 8: A doggery of the regular old-fashioned, drink, gamble, rob and fight sort — a low place, known to all the hard bats in the State. | |
| Und. Speaks n.p.: Bat, a denizen of the criminal underworld. |
4. (US) a complaint or a comment.
| (con. 1920s) Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 287: One more bat out of you [...] and it’ll be curtains for you, punk. |
5. (US prison) a whip used for discipline.
| Und. Speaks 5/2: Bat, a whip used in prison. | |
| (con. 1950-1960) Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) 6: Bat – a vicious leather whip. |
6. (Aus.) a riding-whip.
| Referee (Sydney) 15 Mar. 2/6: American jockeys are frequently accused of making excessive use of their whips, ‘but [...] this is rarely true of the few who last sufficiently to become familiar with their vocation. A case in point is that of ‘Sonny’ Workman [...] has learned, when and how to use his bat. When it comes to whip riders, however, Carol Shilling undoubtedly is entitled to the palm. | |
| Drum. |
7. (US prison) a trial.
| World’s Toughest Prison 790: bat – A criminal trial. ‘Go to Bat’. |
8. (Polari) a shoe, thus in fig. sense, a policeman on pattern of flatfoot n. (3); thus as v. to dance .
| Fabulosa 289/1: bat, batts, bates 1. a shoe. 2. to shuffle or dance on-stage. | |
| Man-Eating Typewriter 38: [F]ash bats and sharpering-omis were after us, those evil eagle-eeked addle-plots who cruised the city. |
In compounds
(US gay) a hitchhiker who allows a homosexual driver to fellate him in exchange for a ride.
| Queens’ Vernacular 28: bat-boy cross-country hitchhiker or young soldier who will allow a homosexual driver to suck him off in exchange or trade for a ride. |
1. (Aus.) a man with a large penis.
| Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 19: Batman A well-endowed male. |
2. (Aus. prison) an onanist.
| Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Batman. A prisoner renowned for masturbating. |
(Aus. prison) pornography.
| Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Bat material. Erotic literature used for masturbation. From ‘go off the bat’. See ‘stick book’. |
(Aus.) a fellator or fellatrix.
| personal communication. |
SE in slang uses, mostly based on baseball/cricket imagery
In compounds
(Aus./US) a fool or a crazy person; thus batbrained, batheaded, adj., stupid, crazy.
| Truth (Sydney) 9 Mar. 5/2: They waited on Carmichael, and argued like a set of bat-brained flats that [they] could not afford to pay their toilers an increase. | |
| Teleg. (Brisbane) 11 Nov. 14/4: Yet so thoroughly are black cats venerated by the bat-headed British public [etc]. | |
| Scribner’s Mag. 122 22: Gambrell is rotted, and that batbrain is rotted, and I just as soon rot under ground as to rot in here. | |
| Never Come Morning (1988) 59: You think I’d spill a good thing to a bathead like Fire? | |
| (con. 1943–5) To Hell and Back (1950) 38: They’re all a bunch of bat-brains. | |
| Mavericks (1968) 161: I’m too blamed busy chasing juvenile bat-brains in sporty cars. | |
| Right Stuff 97: They regarded the military psychiatrist as the modern and unusually bat-brained version of the chaplain. | |
| boo-blog 10 Mar. 🌐 Girl-E wins the batbrain award for this week (note that the only other contender is the stupider of the cats—they’re tied for the season). |
(US prison) a police informer [ety. unknown; ? baseball; note bat n.4 means language, but no US use].
| ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 437: bat carrier, n., A police informer. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| et al. DAUL 24/1: Bat-carrier. (Rare) A stool pigeon for the police; a labor provocateur. | |
| El Paso Herald (TX) 3 Oct. 17/5: A few examples of [...] ‘calo’ [...] If the addict is caught via information furnished by infomers, the blame is rightfully affixed on ‘bat carriers’ or ‘belchers’. | |
| , | | DAS. |
In phrases
1. taking one’s turn.
| Bill Nye and Boomerang 15: They loved each other in season and out of season [...] If Damon were at the bat, Pythias was on deck. | |
| It’s Up to You 38: ‘But I’m afraid, Marietta,’ Clara J. was at the bat — ‘that I may not look well in ivory white.’. | |
| Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 64: I find you’re just the same as a simple name, missing your time at bat. | |
| On the Yard (2002) 17: You’re first at bat, Henry. Take off your cap and come along. | |
| Faggots 20: Up at bat now was this syndicate. |
2. involved in, occupied by.
| ‘Solid Meddlin’’ in People’s Voice (NY) 25 Apr. 31/1: the friends are up at bat again [...] this time another worthy cause. | |
| Yankee Auctioneer 36: Now those who wanted furniture were at bat. |
(Aus.) fast, in an energetic manner.
| I’m a Jack, All Right 99: ‘It’s too hot to ride at the bat’ [...] He set the pace at a slow trot. |
to outlast one’s rivals.
| DSUE (8th edn) 56/1: from ca. 1870. |
at once, immediately, at the first attempt.
| Motor 22 125: Right now—first crack off the bat, you've the chance to snap up the selling privilege for your own locality before someone else gets in ahead. | |
| Century Mag. 94 793: My first brother would have gone, too, first crack off the bat, only he 's married; and so he ’ll wait awhile. | |
| Thrills & Spills in Sports 27: Howdy friends, well, I’m going to fool you the first crack off the bat. | |
| Midland Humor 326: But you're lucky [...] You picked the best fraternity first crack off the bat. How about that, fellows. | |
| WELS [DARE]. | |
| in Wilson Collection [DARE]. | |
| in DARE. | |
| Plain Old Man 109: Mrs. Kelling knows her own friends would buy them up first crack off the bat, and that wouldn't be fair to the rest. | |
| ‘Shock Tactics’ 15 Feb. at Turkotek.com Discussion Forum 🌐 First crack off the bat, we get a value judgment, apparently about nomadism itself. |
(Aus. prison) to masturbate.
| Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Bat. Masturbate. As in ‘to go off the bat’ or ‘to go to bat’. |
by oneself, without help.
| Fragm. Irish Church n.p.: He had no revenues but what he got off his own bat [F&H]. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | in Croker Papers III (1884) 20: Derby has made [...] a fiasco. He would not make a Ministry from his own friends or his own bat. | |
| Social Sinners II 176: You have a weakness for the great world? Good. Score off your own bat, and it is the great world comes to you. | |
| No. 5 John Street 261: ‘Did she pay for the flowers?’ ‘Wanted to, but I mean to do this bit off my own bat.’. | |
| Otterbury Incident 183: They decided to do some detection off their own bat. | |
| Shiralee 80: A friend of yours that made good off his own bat. | |
| Rose of Tibet 11: ‘You don’t think,’ I said fumbling, ‘we should let him have another go, off his own bat’. | |
| A Prisoner’s Tale 112: But [...] the system’s unjust [...] makes you like a child who ain’t allowed to do nothing off his own bat. | |
| Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] He got the catering job on the movie off his own bat. |
on one’s own account.
| Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn). | |
| , , | | Sl. Dict. |
| Sl. Dict. | |
| Cobbers 210: You take the bull by the horns, mate, and sail in on your own bat. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | N.Z. Jack 145: It’s about time you got off on your own bat. |
(US black) in prospect, potentially.
| (con. early 1930s) Harlem Glory (1990) 52: You’ve got a whale on the bat if you’d only go to it. |
(orig. US) at once, immediately, from the outset.
| ‘Meisterschaft’ in Century Mag. XXXV 459/1: Whoever may ask us a Meisterschaft question shall get a Meisterschaft answer—and hot from the bat! | |
| Aus. Jrnl 24 163/2: Let me hear that kid use slang again, and I’ll give it to him right off the bat. I'll wipe up the floor with him. | |
| St Paul Globe (MN) 31 Dec. 11/6: She could sing like a bird. That took my partner right off the bat. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Nov. Red Page/2: ‘What I like about Kipling,’ said Mr. Dooley, ‘is that his pomes is right off th’ bat.... He is a minyit-man, a r-ready pote that sleeps like th’ driver iv thruck 9, with his poetic pants in his boots beside his bed, an’ him r-ready to jump out an’ slide down th’ pole th’ minyit th’ alarm sounds...’. | |
| Cape Girardeau Democrat (MO) 5 May 7/1: I caught a fish hot off the bat. | |
| Bucky O’Connor (1910) 65: Turn lose your yarn at me hot off the bat. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | Maclean’s (Toronto) Feb. 135/2: Buy a jimmy pipe [...] one that chums-up with your spirit right off the bat, natural like . | |
| White Moll 181: De whole place ’d go up in fireworks right off de bat. | |
| ‘The Lily of St. Pierre’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 141: She knows me right off the bat. | |
| What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 159: That was the month everything happened. It started crazy right off the bat. | |
| Battle Cry (1964) 397: We took to them right off the bat. | |
| letter 15 Nov. in Proud Highway (1997) 468: I note right off the bat that you appear ignorant of the true-certain historical fact. | |
| Come Monday Morning 30: He reached under the seat for his bottle, couldn’t put his hand on it right off the bat. | |
| Brown’s Requiem 118: I knew right off the bat that this was a class place by T.J. standards. | |
| Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 188: I could sneak him right off the bat. | |
| A Steady Rain I ii: Right off the bat she lays into me. | |
| Lush Life 87: You damn well knew right off the bat exactly who Ike was with last night, right? |
(UK society) to emerge a winner.
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. |