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any of numerous flying mammals of the order chiroptera, of worldwide distribution in tropical and temperate regions, having modified forelimbs that serve as wings and are covered with a membranous skin extending to the hind limbs.
blind as a bat, nearly or completely blind; having very poor vision:
anyone can tell that he’s blind as a bat, but he won’t wear gl-sses.
have bats in one’s belfry, informal. to have crazy ideas; be very peculiar, erratic, or foolish:
if you think you can row across the ocean in that boat, you have bats in your belfry.
historical examples

the general tenor of the sound was a kind of swooping, batlike whine.
pagan p-ssions gordon randall garrett

it was as if the last swoop of that batlike figure had returned them to consciousness.
the end of time wallace west

we have our batlike sports and our owllike prides, and the full sun would blind us and lose us our way.
the best short stories of 1920 various

batlike, this second and terrible visitant avoided the light.
the yellow claw sax rohmer

he flung his arms abroad, and the batlike cloak fluttered out to its fullest width.
mrs. tree’s will laura e. richards

beneath one foot was one of the batlike sea demons, its face mirroring ultimate despair.
the players everett b. cole

the light roused shadows which flitted silently about the corners as in batlike fear.
the web of the golden spider frederick orin bartlett

they saw them hover a moment above that fiery h-ll, then rise on batlike wings to swoop off into the night.
sp-wn of the comet harold thompson rich

noun
any of various types of club with a handle, used to hit the ball in certain sports, such as cricket, baseball, or table tennis
a flat round club with a short handle, resembling a table-tennis bat, used by a man on the ground to guide the pilot of an aircraft when taxiing
(cricket) short for batsman
any stout stick, esp a wooden one
(informal) a blow from such a stick
(austral) a small board used for tossing the coins in the game of two-up
(us & canadian, slang) a drinking spree; binge
(slang) speed; rate; pace: they went at a fair bat
another word for batting (sense 1)
(cricket) carry one’s bat, (of an opening batsman) to reach the end of an innings without being dismissed
off one’s own bat

of one’s own accord; without being prompted by someone else
by one’s own unaided efforts

(us & canadian, informal) off the bat, right off the bat, immediately; without hesitation
verb bats, batting, batted
(transitive) to strike with or as if with a bat
(intransitive) (sport) (of a player or a team) to take a turn at batting
noun
any placental mammal of the order chiroptera, being a nocturnal mouselike animal flying with a pair of membranous wings (patagia). the group is divided into the megachiroptera (fruit bats) and microchiroptera (insectivorous bats) related adjective chiropteran
(slang) an irritating or eccentric woman (esp in the phrase old bat)
blind as a bat, having extremely poor eyesight
(informal) have bats in the belfry, have bats in one’s belfry, to be mad or eccentric; have strange ideas
(slang) like a bat out of h-ll, very quickly
verb (transitive) bats, batting, batted
to wink or flutter (one’s eyelids)
(informal) not bat an eye, not bat an eyelid, to show no surprise or concern
n.

“a stick, a club,” old english -batt “cudgel,” perhaps from celtic (cf. irish and gaelic bat, bata “staff, cudgel”), influenced by old french batte, from late latin battre “beat;” all from pie root -bhat- “to strike.” also “a lump, piece” (mid-14c.), as in brickbat. as a kind of paddle used to play cricket, it is attested from 1706.

phrase right off the bat is 1888, also hot from the bat (1888), probably a baseball metaphor, but cricket is possible as a source; there is an early citation from australia (in an article about slang): “well, it is a vice you’d better get rid of then. refined conversation is a mark of culture. let me hear that kid use slang again, and i’ll give it to him right off the bat. i’ll wipe up the floor with him. i’ll —” [“the australian journal,” november 1888].

flying mammal (order chiroptera), 1570s, a dialectal alteration of middle english bakke (early 14c.), which is probably related to old swedish natbakka, old danish nathbakkæ “night bat,” and old norse leðrblaka “leather flapper,” so original sense is likely “flapper.” the shift from -k- to -t- may have come through confusion of bakke with latin blatta “moth, nocturnal insect.”

old english word for the animal was hreremus, from hreran “to shake” (see rare (adj.2)), and rattle-mouse is attested from late 16c., an old dialectal word for “bat.” as a contemptuous term for an old woman, perhaps a suggestion of witchcraft (cf. fly-by-night), or from bat as “prost-tute who plies her trade by night” [farmer, who calls it “old slang” and finds french equivalent “night swallow” (hirondelle de nuit) “more poetic”].
v.

“to move the eyelids,” 1847, american english, from earlier sense of “flutter as a hawk” (1610s), a variant of bate (v.2) on the notion of fluttering wings. related: batted; batting.

“to hit with a bat,” mid-15c., from bat (n.1). related: batted; batting.

noun

a prost-tute; a loose woman •probably so called because she works at night (1600s+)
old bat
a woman, esp an ugly one (1880s+)
a spree; carousal; binge (1840s+)

related terms

go to bat against, go to bat for, have bats in one’s belfry, like a bat out of h-ll, right off the bat, take off like a big-ss bird
bachelor of arts in teaching
best available technology

the hebrew word (atalleph’) so rendered (lev. 11:19; deut. 14:18) implies “flying in the dark.” the bat is reckoned among the birds in the list of unclean animals. to cast idols to the “moles and to the bats” means to carry them into dark caverns or desolate places to which these animals resort (isa. 2:20), i.e., to consign them to desolation or ruin.

bat an eye
bat around
bat one thousand
bat the breeze