bat

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of various nocturnal flying mammals of the order Chiroptera, having membranous wings that extend from the forelimbs to the hind limbs or tail and anatomical adaptations for echolocation, by which they navigate and hunt prey.
• idiom (have bats in (one's) belfry) To behave in an eccentric, bizarre manner.
• noun A binge; a spree.
• noun A stout wooden stick; a cudgel.
• noun A blow, such as one delivered with a stick.
• noun Baseball A rounded, often wooden club, wider and heavier at the hitting end and tapering at the handle, used to strike the ball.
• noun A club used in cricket, having a broad, flat-surfaced hitting end and a distinct, narrow handle.
• noun The racket used in various games, such as table tennis or racquets.
• intransitive verb To hit with or as if with a bat.
• intransitive verb To cause (a run) to be scored while at bat.
• intransitive verb To have (a certain percentage) as a batting average.
• intransitive verb Informal To discuss or consider at length.
• intransitive verb To use a bat.
• intransitive verb To have a turn at bat.
• intransitive verb Slang To wander about aimlessly.
• idiom (at bat) Taking one's turn to bat, as in baseball or cricket.
• idiom (go to bat for) To give assistance to; defend.
• idiom (right off the bat) Without hesitation; immediately.
• transitive verb To wink or flutter.
• idiom (not bat an eye/eyelash) To show no emotion; appear unaffected.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To beat; hit; strike.
• In base-ball and similar games, to strike the ball: as, he bats well.
• To bate or flutter, as in the phrase to bat the eyes, that is, wink.
• noun A pack-saddle: only in composition, as bathorse, batman, etc.
• noun See batz.
• noun A wing-handed, wing-footed flying mammal, of the order Chiroptera (which see).
• noun Same as tical.
• noun A measure of land formerly used in South Wales; a perch of 11 feet square.
• noun A heavy stick or club; formerly, a walking-stick.
• noun The wooden club with which the players in base-ball, cricket, and similar games bat or drive the ball.
• noun A batsman or batter.
• noun A blow as with a bat or baton: as, he received a bat in the face.
• noun A tool made of beech, used by plumbers in dressing and flatting sheet-lead.
• noun A rammer used by founders.
• noun A blade used for beating or scutching hemp or flax.
• noun A piece of brick having one end entire; hence, any portion of a brick; a brickbat.
• noun A kind of sun-dried brick.
• noun Shale; hardened clay, but not fire-clay: same as bind, 2. Also spelled batt.
• noun In hat-making, a felted mass of fur, or of hair and wool. Two such masses are required to form the body of a hat. Also spelled batt.
• noun A continuous wad of cotton from the batting-machine, ready for carding; also, a sheet of cotton wadding or batting. See batting.
• noun In ceramics: A flexible sheet of gelatin used in transferring impressions to the biscuit.
• noun A shelf or slab of baked clay used to support pieces of biscuit which have been painted, and are being fired again. See enamel-kiln.
• noun Rate; speed; style.
• noun A Siamese silver coin, the same as the tical.
• noun Same as bath.
• noun A paddle or blade in a coal-pulverizer. These bats are carried on rapidly rotating arms, and break the coal into very fine particles.