Meaning & use
bat
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A small flying mammal with leathery wings that is active at night and finds its way using echoes.
Grammar: Countable: a bat; plural bats.
Patterns
- a colony of bats
- a fruit bat
A bat swooped past the porch light, catching moths in the dark.
Thousands of bats poured out of the cave at dusk.
Some bats feed on fruit rather than insects.
nouncountablesport
A shaped piece of wood or metal used to hit the ball in sports such as baseball, cricket and softball.
Grammar: Countable; often followed by a sport word: a baseball bat, a cricket bat.
Patterns
- a baseball bat
- swing a bat
- a cricket bat
She gripped the bat and waited for the pitch.
He carried his cricket bat to the nets every evening.
The player cracked the ball with a swing of his bat.
verbintransitivesport
To take a turn at hitting the ball in baseball, cricket or similar games.
Grammar: No object; often followed by a position or order: she bats third.
Patterns
- bat first
- bat third
- bat for a team
Our team will bat first after winning the toss.
She bats third in the lineup because she rarely strikes out.
He batted for two hours before being dismissed.
verbtransitive
To hit something lightly with the hand or a flat object, or to flutter your eyelashes.
Grammar: Takes an object: bat the balloon away; bat your eyelashes.
Patterns
- bat something away
- bat your eyelashes
The kitten batted the toy across the floor.
He batted away the question with a laugh.
She batted her eyelashes and asked for a favor.
Word forms
| plural | bats |
|---|---|
| third person singular | bats |
| past tense | batted |
| past participle | batted |
| -ing form | batting |
Common combinations
- fruit bat
- The fruit bat hung upside down from a mango tree.
- baseball bat
- He swung the baseball bat with both hands.
- bat an eyelid
- She did not bat an eyelid when the price was announced.
- bat first
- The captain chose to bat first on the dry pitch.
- colony of bats
- A colony of bats lives in the old church tower.
- blind as a bat
- Without my glasses I am as blind as a bat.
Synonyms and how they differ
- club
- Club is a general word for a heavy stick used as a weapon, but it is not the usual name for a sports bat.
- racket
- A racket has strings and is used in tennis or squash, while a bat is a solid piece of wood or metal.
- flying fox
- Flying fox is a name for large fruit bats, so it is narrower than bat.
- swat
- Swat means to hit quickly at an insect or other small object, while bat as a verb is lighter and more playful.
Word family
Commonly confused: bat or bet?
bat vs bet
Bet is the act of risking money on an outcome, and it sounds close to bat but has no connection to animals or sports equipment.
Practice
The captain won the toss and decided to ___ first, hoping to put a high score on the board.
Choose one answer.
To bat first means to take the first turn at hitting. Bowl, field and pitch describe the opposing side or other roles and would mean the team starts without hitting.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bat”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.