Meaning & use
batching it
Last updated
“batching it” is a form of “batch it”.
Meanings
phraseidiominformaldialect
Living by yourself, especially as a man without a partner, and looking after your own cooking and housework.
Grammar: Always with it, and usually in a continuous form: he is batching it.
Patterns
- be batching it
- go batching it
While his wife was overseas, he was batching it for three weeks.
I'm batching it this month, so dinner is just toast.
He got used to batching it after the divorce.
phraseidiominformal
Staying temporarily in a simple, makeshift way, for example during a trip or while the family is away.
Grammar: Often used jokingly for a short stretch: batching it for the weekend.
Patterns
- batching it for a while
We're batching it in the old cabin until the repairs are finished.
The students were batching it in a shared flat over the summer.
With the kids at their grandparents', we are batching it for a week.
Word forms
| base form | batch it |
|---|---|
| third person singular | batches it |
| past tense | batched it |
| -ing form | batching it |
Common combinations
- be batching it
- He's batching it while his family is away.
- stop batching it
- It was time to stop batching it and find a partner.
- batching it alone
- He's been batching it alone since March.
- batching it for a week
- I'm batching it for a week, so don't expect a clean house.
Synonyms and how they differ
- living alone
- Living alone is the neutral, general phrase and does not suggest a messy or rough style of living.
- fending for yourself
- Fending for yourself stresses having to manage without help, and it is not tied to being single.
- roughing it
- Roughing it means living without comforts, while batching it is about managing alone in a domestic way.
- bachelor life
- Bachelor life is more formal and refers to the lifestyle in general rather than the act of living alone.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: batching it or batching?
batching it vs batching
Batching alone usually means processing things in groups, like baking cookies in batches, which is a different meaning.
Practice
My partner is away on business, so I'm ____ it all week.
Choose one answer.
The continuous form batching it fits after 'I'm'. The other forms do not fit the same structure.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “batching it”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.