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“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.
In addition to the idioms beginning with bat
- bat an eye
- bat around
- bat one thousand
- bats in one’s belfry, have
- bat the breeze
also see:
- at bat
- blind as a bat
- bats in one’s belfry
- go to bat for
- like a bat out of hell
right off the bat.