bat, n.⁴ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

bat n.⁴

[Hind. bat, speech]

language; often in phrs. below.

1875		‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1905) 35: At first I liked his coming, for I liked the yarns he spun, /Of course in English; very little native ‘bât’ was done.
1888		Kipling ‘The Three Musketeers’ in Plain Tales from the Hills 65: Hoppin’ in an’ out av the shops, thryin’ to injuce the naygurs to mallum his bat. [Ibid.] 66: T’ Sahib doesn’t speak t’ bat.
1896		Regiment 22 Aug. 318/3: [T]he starter [...] has a trying time indeed, for no amount of ‘bat’ (talk or language), mild or severe, will make them [i.e. native servants] keep in line or ‘toe the mark’ .
1898		Bay of Plenty Times 21 Nov. 4/2: He was conversant with every native ‘bat’ or dialect.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: bat. Language. Hindustani, used by Australians in Mesopotamia.
1971		(con. WWII) B. Aldiss Soldier Erect 43: You lot want to bolo the bhat a thora, you do!

crab-bat (n.)

Hindi obscenities; thus sling the crab-bat v., to swear in Hindi.

1932		Chron. (Adelaide) 28 Apr. 53/1: He could speak English— and speak it well; there was no need for 'barrack lingo' when conversing with him, although several troopers in trying to soothe him, jokingly said, [...] ‘Why you speak it the crab-bat, Pathanee?’.
1936		(con. 1900s) F. Richards Old Soldier Sahib (1965) 139: The Prayer-wallah spent his time in learning the ‘crab-bat’ [...] which was all the swear-words in the Hindoostani language. [Ibid.] 142: The old shopkeeper could not believe that any man could have learned to sling the crab-bat to such order.

sling the bat (v.) [sling v. (2a)]

(orig. milit.) to speak the local (foreign) language.

1892		Kipling ‘Route Marchin’’ in Barrack-Room Ballads (1893) 207: And we thinks o’ friends in England, an’ we wonders what they’re at, / And ’ow they would admire for to hear us sling the bat.
1902		St James’s Gaz. 5 Aug. 4/1: We hear that some of the men have learnt to sling the bat [...] and to be complimented on their proficiency in sulphurous language.
1910		Bystander (London) 24 Aug. 38/2: One who has been there and who can sling the bat, as Tommy Atkins would say, with the best of us.
1916		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 18 July 5/2: They're all right, I can tell you when you get know 'em [i.e. the French] and I can sling their bat like one o'clock now. It's quite easy once get the hang it, this bong arid pang parley voo.
1928		Graphic (London) 22 Sept. 16/2: So we're off to Russia, eh. Hear you can sling the bat like old Rodjestvensky himself.
1939		Aberdeen Jrnl 15 June 4/3: Coo, sir, ’e cant ’arf sling the bat.

spin the bat (v.)

(Anglo-Ind.) to speak slangily.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 231/1: Spin the bat (Anglo-Indian, 19 cent.). Used figuratively for remarkable military language.