Bat.
1. A mallet. 2. A club for striking a ball in various plays; as, base-ball, cricket, croquet, etc. 3. A rammer used by founders.4. (Fiber.) a. Clean cot- [246] ton in loose and evenly spread condition. The product of the batting-machine, in which the cotton is scutched, blown, and delivered in an even continuous wad, which, when wound on a roller or axis, forms a lap and is ready for carding. b. A scutching or beating sword for hemp or flax.
5. (Plumbing.) A plumber's tool, made of beech, about eighteen inches long, and used for dressing and flatting sheet-lead.
6. (Hat-making.) a. One or more slivers of carded wool, or a body of blown fur. The subsequent processes are shrinking and hardening; the first by immersion in hot water, the latter by pressure and rubbing. Felting succeeds. Web, lap, sheet, and sliver are synonymes in this connection. b. In hand-work, a bat may be said to be a light assemblage of felting-hair gathered by the bow. It is compacted by pressure of the hands on a piece of leather called the hardening-skin, and by rubbing. 7. A half or other portion of a brick large enough to be worked into a wall.
