have bats in one's belfry
Variant of bat
bat (bat)
noun
- any stout club, stick, or cudgel
- a club used to strike the ball in baseball and cricket
- a ping-pong paddle, squash racket, etc.
- ☆ a turn at batting, as in baseballsee also at-bat
- Brit. a batsman at cricket
- cotton batting, esp. of an inferior quality; batt
- the whip used by a jockey
- Informal a blow or hit
- ☆ Slang a drinking bout; spree
- Brit., Informal fast pace; speed
- Ceramics a plaster disk on which the clay is based in modeling
Etymology: ME < OE batt, cudgel (prob. < Welsh bat < IE base *bhat-, to strike) & < OFr batte, pestle < battre, batter
transitive verb batted bat′·ted, batting bat′·ting
- to strike with or as with a bat
- to have a batting average of
intransitive verb
- to use a bat to bat left-handed
- to take a turn at batting to bat third in the lineup
at bat
☆bat around
☆ Slang- to travel or roam about
- to consider or discuss (an idea, plan, etc.) freely and informally
- Baseball to have all the batters in the lineup come to bat in a single inning
bat out
☆go to bat for
☆(right) off the bat
☆Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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