Harlequin’s lath wand (French, batte, a wooden sword).
To carry out one’s bat (in cricket). Not to be “out” when the time for drawing the stumps has arrived.
Off his own bat. By his own exertions; on his own account. A cricketer’s phrase, meaning runs won by a single player.
· ·
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
· 
· 
· ·