bat1
  
  n.
  - an implement with a handle and a solid surface, used in sports such as cricket or baseball for hitting the ball.
 - a slab on which pottery is formed, dried, or fired.
 
v.
 (bats, batting, batted)
    - (in sport) take the role of hitting rather than throwing the ball.
 - hit with the flat of one's hand.
 - 
(bat something around/about)
 informal casually discuss an idea or proposal.
 - 
(bat around/about)
 informal travel widely, frequently, or casually.
 
 
  Phrase
  
    - off one's own bat
 Brit. informal at one's own instigation.  - right off the bat
 N. Amer. informal at the very beginning. 
   
  Etymology
  OE batt ‘club, stick, staff’, perh. partly from OFr. batte, from battre ‘to strike’.
 
  
    
bat2
  
  n.
  - a mainly nocturnal mammal capable of sustained flight, with membranous wings that extend between the fingers and limbs. 
[Order Chiroptera: many species.]
 - 
(old bat)
 informal an unattractive and unpleasant woman.
 
 
  Phrase
  
    
      - have bats in the belfry
 informal be eccentric or mad. 
    
   
  Etymology
  C16: alt., perh. by assoc. with med. L. batta, blacta, of ME bakke, of Scand. origin; sense 2 is from bat, a sl. term for ‘prostitute’, or from battleaxe.
 
  
    
bat3
  
  v.
 (bats, batting, batted)
 flutter (one's eyelashes).
 
  Phrase
  
    
      - not bat 
(or without batting)
 an eyelid 
(or N. Amer. eye)
 informal show (or showing) no surprise or concern. 
    
   
  Etymology
  C19 (orig. US): from dial. and US bat ‘to wink, blink’, var. of obs. bate ‘to flutter’.