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a quantity or number coming at one time or taken together:
a batch of prisoners.
the quantity of material prepared or required for one operation:
mixing a batch of concrete.
the quantity of bread, cookies, dough, or the like, made at one baking.
Computers.

a group of jobs, data, or programs treated as a unit for computer processing.
batch processing.

Glassmaking.

a quantity of raw materials mixed in proper proportions and prepared for fusion into glass.
the material so mixed.

to combine, mix, or process in a batch.
bach.
Contemporary Examples

Make a batch of these rum balls, climb into a onesie, and let your favorite movie do the rest.
Carla Hall’s Christmas Day Treat: Rum Balls Carla Hall December 24, 2014

Gaziantep is famous for its baklava and this batch of twenty was expensive.
The Fourth War: My Lunch with a Jihadi Elliot Ackerman January 20, 2014

And some nights, when the people from down on the river came up, we’d make a batch of money.
Stanley Booth on the Life and Hard Times of Blues Genius Furry Lewis Stanley Booth June 6, 2014

Rather, they sent a batch to the manager of each bureau, who doled them out to whomever they wanted.
The New White House Wallflower Sandra McElwaine December 19, 2009

The first batch of emails came on Monday—and all were about money, presented without context.
Miranda July on ‘We Think Alone,’ Her New Email Project Isabel Wilkinson July 1, 2013

Historical Examples

He had been over to the Court-house, he said, helping the deputy along with a new “batch of moonshiners.”
The Underdog F. Hopkinson Smith

Mr. Snyder and Mr. Pettit used to batch it in a cabin in Glencoe before our marriage.
Old Rail Fence Corners Various

Except a batch of three Shangaans returning from the Rand, I had nobody in the store for the whole of one day.
Prester John John Buchan

On Burleigh’s desk was a batch of telegrams from Department Headquarters.
Warrior Gap Charles King

For this purpose I took a batch of six radishes and obtained from them responses at gradually increasing temperatures.
Response in the Living and Non-Living Jagadis Chunder Bose

noun
a group or set of usually similar objects or people, esp if sent off, handled, or arriving at the same time
the bread, cakes, etc, produced at one baking
the amount of a material needed for an operation
Also called batch loaf. a tall loaf having a close texture and a thick crust on the top and bottom, baked as part of a batch: the sides of each loaf are greased so that they will pull apart after baking to have pale crumby sides; made esp in Scotland and Ireland Compare pan loaf
verb (transitive)
to group (items) for efficient processing
to handle by batch processing
verb (Austral & NZ, informal)
(intransitive) (of a man) to do his own cooking and housekeeping
to live alone
n.

Old English *bæcce “something baked,” from bacan “bake” (see bake (v.)). Batch is to bake as watch (n.) is to wake and match (n.2) “one of a pair” is to make. Extended 1713 to “any quantity produced at one operation.”

noun

A bachelor (1850s+)

verb

(also bach it) Of a man, to live alone (1860s+)

Related Terms

bach, lay a batch

batch processing