Forms: α. 3 ? balke, 4–6 bakke, backe, 5–6 bake, bak, back; β. 6–7 batte, 6–8 batt, 6– bat. [The mod. bat, found c. 1575, takes the place of ME. bakke, apparently from Scand.; cf. Da. aften-bakke ‘evening-bat,’ ODa. nath-bakkæ, OSw. (Ihre) natt-backa ‘night-bat.’ Swedish dial. have also natt-batta, natt-blacka: with the latter cf. Icel. leðr-blaka ‘bat,’ lit. ‘leather-flutterer,’ f. blaka ‘to flap, wave, flutter with wings,’ whence it has been suggested that bakke, backa have lost an l; but as the l does not appear in the OSw. and ODa. forms above, this is very unlikely. The med.L. blatta, blacta, batta, glossed ‘lucifuga, vespertilio, vledermus’ (Diefenbach Suppl. to Du Cange) = cl. L. blatta ‘an insect that shuns the light’ (blattæ lucifugæ, Vergil) ‘cockroach, moth,’ is distinct in origin, but may have influenced the English change to bat; evidence is wanting. Back- in comb., backie-bird, bawkie-bird still survive in north Eng. and Sc.]
1. An animal, a member of the Mammalian order Cheiroptera, and especially of the family Vespertilionidæ; consisting of mouse-like quadrupeds (whence the names Rere-mouse, Flitter-mouse), having the fingers extended to support a thin membrane which stretches from the side of the neck by the toes of both pairs of feet to the tail, and forms a kind of wing, with which they fly with a peculiar quivering motion; hence they were formerly classed as birds. They are all nocturnal, retiring by day to dark recesses, to which habits there are many references in literature.
Of about 17 species found in Britain the best-known are the Common Bat or Pipistrelle (Vespertilio Pipistrellus) and the Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auritus); of the much larger foreign species, the most noted are the Vampires.
α. a. 1300. W. de Biblesw., in Wright, Voc., 164. Balke, chaufe-soriz en mesoun.
c. 1340. Alex. & Dind., 723. Bringen her a nihte-bird . a bakke . or an oule.
1388. Wyclif, Isa. ii. 20. Moldewarpis and backis, ether rere myis. [1535 Coverdale, Molles and Backes; 1590 Genev. To the mowles and to the backes; 1611 Moules and battes.]
1414. Brampton, Penit. Ps., lxxx. 31. A backe, that flyith be nyȝt.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 21. Bakke (v.r. bak), flyinge best (v.r. fleynge byrde), vespertilio.
1483. Cath. Angl., 18. A Bakke, blata, vespertilio.
1496. Dives & Paup. (W. de W.), III. viii. 144. Lyke oules & backes whiche hate the daye & loue the nyght.
a. 1500. in Wülcker, Voc., /761. Hic vespertilio, hec lucifuga, a bake.
1509. Fisher, Wks. I. (1876), 87. More louynge derkenes than lyght, lyke vnto a beest called a backe.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XIII. Prol. 33. Vpgois the bak wyth hir pelit ledderyn flycht.
1552. Huloet, Reremowse, or backe whiche flyeth in the darcke, nycteris.
c. 1554. Croke, Ps. (1844), 20. The backe or owle, That lurketh yn an olde house syde.
1607. Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr., II. vi. 71. To cast them to the Moules and to the backes.
[1808. Jamieson, s.v. Bak, The modern name in Sc. is backie-bird.
1863. Prov. Danby, Back-bearaway, the bat, or rere mouse.]
β. 1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong., Chauvesouris, a Backe, some call it a Bat.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 36. The lether-winged batt, dayes enimy.
1604. Drayton, Owle, 502. The blacke-ey’d Bat (the Watch-Man of the Night).
1605. Shaks., Macb., III. ii. 40. Ere the Bat hath flowne His Cloyster’d flight.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XII. 513. So to the beam the bat tenacious clings, And pendant round it clasps his leathern wings.
1768. Pennant, Zool., I. 114. The irregular, uncertain and jerking motion of the bat in the air.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 350. Silent bats in drowsy clusters cling.
1791. Boswell, Johnson (1831), IV. 209. The curious formation of a bat, a mouse with wings.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., I. Wks. 1834, II. 156. Bats on their webby wings in darkness move.
1847. Carpenter, Zool., § 165. Cheiroptera; the animals of this Order, all of them commonly known as Bats.
1852. D. Moir, Ruins Seton Chapel, v. The twilight-loving bat, on leathern wing.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., I. I. 112. Now the shrill bats were upon the wing.
2. Comb. a. sbs., as bat-flying, whence bat-flying time, dusk, bat-shell, a species of volute; bat-tick, an insect parasitical on bats. b. adjs., as bat-blind, blind as a bat in the sunlight; bat-like, like a bat, or like that of a bat, also adv. after the manner of a bat; bat-wing, bats-wing, shaped like the wing of a bat, applied spec. to a laterally spreading flame from a gas-jet, and the burner producing it. Also in many parasynthetic derivatives, as bat-eyed, having bat’s eyes, bat-blind; bat-minded, mentally blind; bat-winged, having bat’s wings; whence deriv. sbs., as bat-mindedness, etc.
1609. J. Davies, Holy Rood, 13 (D.). O *Bat-blind Fooles, doe ye infatuate That Wisdome?
1834. M. Scott, Cruise Midge (1859), 503. If you are not bat-blind it will evince to you that [etc.].
1638. Sanderson, Serm., II. 118. One, to be cat-eyed outward … another, to be *bat-eyed inward; in not perceiving … a beam in a man’s own eye.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xvii. I hae sat on the grave frae *bat-fleeing time till cock-crow.
a. 1711. Ken, Edmund, Wks. 1721, II. 90. His *Bat-like Wings he to full stretch expands.
1785–95. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Lousiad, II. Wks. I. 230. Conscience … That, bat-like, winks by day and wakes by night.
1858. Sears, Athan., II. xii. 249. Bat-like fallacies.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, I. iv. 34. Bat-like cries, thin, impotent of sound.
1869. Echo, 23 Jan. There is enough … *bat-mindedness in the world to give Rome a fair chance.
1869. Daily News, 18 June. The common *batswing burner … is of about the same illuminating power as the fishtails.
1852. T. Harris, Insects New Eng., 501. A remarkable group of insects, which seems to connect the flies with the true ticks and spiders. Such are sheep-ticks and *bat-ticks.
1872. H. Macmillan, True Vine, vii. 296. The leaves of the *bat-wing passion-flower.
1847. Ld. Lindsay, Chr. Art, I. 84. The triple-headed, *bat-winged, horned and hoofed monster of the later middle ages.
