Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A heavy blow.
  • noun In printing, a blur or defect in a sheet produced by battered type; a spot showing the broken state of the type.
  • noun In ceramics, a mallet used to flatten out wet clay before molding. See batting-block.
  • To beat upon or against; strike with repeated blows; pound violently, as with the fist, a hammer or bludgeon, a battering-ram, cannon-shot, etc.: as, to batter a door for admittance; to batter the walls of a city (with or without effect).
  • To bruise, break, or shatter by beating; injure the substance of by blows; pound out of form or condition: as, to batter a person's countenance; a battered wall or tower; to batter type (that is, bruise the face of it).
  • In forging, to spread outwardly, as the ends of a metal bar or rod, by hammering; upset.
  • To act by beating or striking; use repeated blows; practise pounding: as, to batter away at a door; to batter upon a wall; battering cannon.
  • Specifically, to attempt to breach an enemy's works by means of a battery mounted in the third parallel. To batter in breach, a sufficient number of guns should be employed to maintain a practically continuous fire, so as to prevent the enemy from repairing the damage, and to obtain the cumulative effect due to heavy firing against a single point. Breaching is sometimes accomplished by firing simultaneous or alternate volleys from two or more batteries.
  • To incline from the perpendicular: said of a wall whose face recedes as it rises: opposed to overhang.
  • To paste together; cover with things pasted on: as, to batter the walls with placards.
  • noun One who bats; especially, in base-ball and cricket, one who wields the bat; the batsman.
  • noun A mixture of several ingredients, as flour, eggs, salt, etc., beaten together with some liquid, used in cookery.
  • noun Flour and water made into paste; specifically, the paste used in sizing cloth.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To beat with successive blows; to beat repeatedly and with violence, so as to bruise, shatter, or demolish.
  • transitive verb To wear or impair as if by beating or by hard usage.
  • transitive verb (Metallurgy) To flatten (metal) by hammering, so as to compress it inwardly and spread it outwardly.
  • noun A semi-liquid mixture of several ingredients, as, flour, eggs, milk, etc., beaten together and used in cookery.
  • noun Paste of clay or loam.
  • noun (Printing) A bruise on the face of a plate or of type in the form.
  • noun A backward slope in the face of a wall or of a bank; receding slope.
  • noun an instrument consisting of a rule or frame, and a plumb line, by which the batter or slope of a wall is regulated in building.
  • noun The one who wields the bat in baseball; the one whose turn it is at bat; formerly called the batsman.
  • intransitive verb (Arch.) To slope gently backward.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To hit or strike violently and repeatedly.
  • verb To coat with batter (the food ingredient).
  • verb To defeat soundly; to thrash
  • verb UK, slang To intoxicate
  • noun The person who tries to hit the ball in a sport like baseball.
  • noun cricket A batsman.
  • noun A beaten mixture of flour and liquid (usually egg and milk), used for baking (e.g. pancakes, cake, or yorkshire pudding) or to coat food (e.g. fish) prior to frying
  • noun A binge, a heavy drinking session.
  • verb architecture To slope (of walls, buildings etc.).
  • noun An incline on the outer face of a built wall.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb strike violently and repeatedly
  • noun a liquid or semiliquid mixture, as of flour, eggs, and milk, used in cooking
  • verb strike against forcefully
  • verb make a dent or impression in
  • noun (baseball) a ballplayer who is batting

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French batre ("to beat").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

bat +‎ -er (“agent suffix”).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French bateure ("the action of beating"), from batre ("to beat").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Unknown.

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Examples

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  • Inward and upward slope of an external wall.

    August 24, 2008