BATTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does batter mean? 

• BATTER (noun)
  The noun BATTER has 2 senses:

1. (baseball) a ballplayer who is batting

2. a liquid or semiliquid mixture, as of flour, eggs, and milk, used in cooking

  Familiarity information: BATTER used as a noun is rare.

• BATTER (verb)
  The verb BATTER has 3 senses:

1. strike against forcefully

2. strike violently and repeatedly

3. make a dent or impression in

  Familiarity information: BATTER used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BATTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(baseball) a ballplayer who is batting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

batsman; batter; hitter; slugger

Hypernyms ("batter" is a kind of...):

ballplayer; baseball player (an athlete who plays baseball)

Domain category:

ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "batter"):

bunter (a batter who bunts)

designated hitter (a ballplayer who is designated to bat in place of the pitcher)

pinch hitter ((baseball) a substitute for the regular batter)

switch-hitter (a baseball player who can bat either right or left handed)

whiffer (a batter who strikes out by swinging at and missing the third strike)

Derivation:

bat (strike with, or as if with a baseball bat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A liquid or semiliquid mixture, as of flour, eggs, and milk, used in cooking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("batter" is a kind of...):

concoction; intermixture; mixture (any foodstuff made by combining different ingredients)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "batter"):

pate a choux; pouf paste; puff batter (batter for making light hollow cases to hold various fillings)

pancake batter (batter for making pancakes)

fritter batter (batter for making fritters)

• BATTER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they batter    ... he / she / it batters   
Past simple: battered   
Past participle: battered   
-ing form: battering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Strike against forcefully

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

batter; buffet; knock about

Context example:

Winds buffeted the tent

Hypernyms (to "batter" is one way to...):

strike (deliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapon)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Strike violently and repeatedly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

baste; batter; clobber

Context example:

She clobbered the man who tried to attack her

Hypernyms (to "batter" is one way to...):

beat; beat up; work over (give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to batter the prisoners

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make a dent or impression in

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

batter; dinge

Context example:

dinge a soft hat

Hypernyms (to "batter" is one way to...):

change form; change shape; deform (assume a different shape or form)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Here they dropped the poor Woodman, who fell a great distance to the rocks, where he lay so battered and dented that he could neither move nor groan.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

"You just looked good; that's why I battered you."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

My hat (which had served me for a night-cap, too) was so crushed and bent, that no old battered handleless saucepan on a dunghill need have been ashamed to vie with it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Models developed by Tajeddine and co-authors from France and Belgium indicate that, if Mimas is hiding a liquid water ocean, it lies 15 to 20 miles (24 to 31 kilometers) beneath the moon's impact-battered surface.

(Saturn Moon May Hide a 'Fossil' Core or an Ocean, NASA)

“Don’t you dare ever to ask my leave to fight again, Jack Harrison,” said his wife, as she looked ruefully at his battered face.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sail swung round once more, and the cog, battered and torn and well-nigh water-logged, staggered in for this haven of refuge.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Many New Horizons scientists expected Charon to be a monotonous, crater-battered world; instead, they’re finding a landscape covered with mountains, canyons, landslides, surface-color variations and more.

(Pluto’s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History, NASA)

There can, I think, be no doubt that this battered and shapeless diadem once encircled the brows of the royal Stuarts.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I beg that you will look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual problem.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Thornton was himself bruised and battered, and he went carefully over Buck’s body, when he had been brought around, finding three broken ribs.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)