Part 955

<h1>Battel</h1> <Xpage=125>

<hw>Bat"tel</hw>, <tt>a.</tt> <def>Fertile; fruitful; productive.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<blockquote>A <b>battel</b> soil for grain, for pasture good. <i>Fairfax.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Batteler, Battler</h1> <Xpage=125>

<hw><hw>Bat"tel*er</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <hw>Bat"tler</hw><hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[See 2d <er>Battel</er>, <tt>n.</tt>]</ety> <def>A student at Oxford who is supplied with provisions from the buttery; formerly, one who paid for nothing but what he called for, answering nearly to a sizar at Cambridge.</def>

<i>Wright.</i>

<h1>Batten</h1> <Xpage=125>

<hw>Bat"ten</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>v. t.</tt> <wordforms>[<tt>imp. & p. p.</tt> <er>Battened</er> (<?/); <tt>p. pr. & vb. n.</tt> <er>Battening</er>.]</wordforms> <ety>[See <er>Batful</er>.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>To make fat by plenteous feeding; to fatten.</def> "<i>Battening</i> our flocks."

<i>Milton.</i>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>To fertilize or enrich, as land.</def>

<h1>Batten</h1> <Xpage=125>

<hw>Bat"ten</hw>, <tt>v. i.</tt> <def>To grow fat; to grow fat in ease and luxury; to glut one's self.</def>

<i>Dryden.</i>

<blockquote>The pampered monarch lay <b>battening</b> in ease. <i> Garth.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>Skeptics, with a taste for carrion, who <b>batten</b> on the hideous facts in history, -- persecutions, inquisitions. <i>Emerson.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Batten</h1> <Xpage=125>

<hw>Bat"ten</hw>, <tt>n .</tt> <ety>[F. <ets>b<?/ton</ets> stick, staff. See <er>Baton</er>.]</ety> <def>A strip of sawed stuff, or a scantling; <as>as, <sd>(a)</sd> <ex>pl</ex></as>. <fld>(Com. & Arch.)</fld> Sawed timbers about 7 by 2 1/2 inches and not less than 6 feet long. <i>Brande & C</i>. <sd>(b)</sd> <fld>(Naut.)</fld> A strip of wood used in fastening the edges of a tarpaulin to the deck, also around masts to prevent chafing. <sd>(c)</sd> A long, thin strip used to strengthen a part, to cover a crack, etc.</def>

<cs><col>Batten door</col> <fld>(Arch.)</fld>, <cd>a door made of boards of the whole length of the door, secured by battens nailed crosswise.</cd></cs>

<h1>Batten</h1> <Xpage=125>

<hw>Bat"ten</hw>, <tt>v. t.</tt> <def>To furnish or fasten with battens.</def>

<cs><col>To batten down</col>, <cd>to fasten down with battens, as the tarpaulin over the hatches of a ship during a storm.</cd></cs>

<h1>Batten</h1> <Xpage=125>

<hw>Bat"ten</hw>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[F. <ets>battant</ets>. See <er>Batter</er>, <tt>v. t.</tt>]</ety> <def>The movable bar of a loom, which strikes home or closes the threads of a woof.</def>

<h1>Battening</h1> <Xpage=125>

<hw>Bat"ten*ing</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <fld>(Arch.)</fld> <def>Furring done with small pieces nailed directly upon the wall.</def>

<h1>Batter</h1> <Xpage=125>

<hw>Bat"ter</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>v. t.</tt> <wordforms>[<tt>imp. & p. p.</tt> <er>Battered</er> <tt>(<?/)</tt>; <tt>p. pr. & vb. n.</tt> <er>Battering</er>.]</wordforms> <ety>[OE. <ets>bateren</ets>, OF. <ets>batre</ets>, F. <ets>battre</ets>, fr. LL. <ets>battere</ets>, for L. <ets>batuere</ets> to strike, beat; of unknown origin. Cf. <er>Abate</er>, <er>Bate</er> to abate.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>To beat with successive blows; to beat repeatedly and with violence, so as to bruise, shatter, or demolish; <as>as, to <ex>batter</ex> a wall or rampart</as>.</def>