The word bat has many meanings beyond the flying mammal, depending on context. As a noun, bat can mean a piece of sporting equipment used in baseball, cricket, and table tennis, a wooden or metal club used to hit a ball, as in baseball bat or cricket bat. It can also mean to bat as a verb, to take a turn hitting in baseball or cricket. In slang, bat can mean to flutter eyelashes, as in bat your eyes, or to be crazy, as in batty or bats in the belfry. In informal American slang, bat can refer to a spree or binge, like going on a bender. As a verb, to bat means to hit or strike, as in bat a ball. In British slang, old bat can be a mildly insulting term for an eccentric older person, though it can be considered rude. In some contexts, bat is an abbreviation for battalion in military use. In poker, BAT can stand for big blind ante. In manufacturing, bat can refer to a ceramic slab used in pottery. The phrase like a bat out of hell means very fast. So bat has meanings in sports, slang, military, and everyday idioms, not just the animal that flies at night and uses echolocation to navigate.
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