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Batten   /bˈætən/   Listen
noun
Batten  n.  A strip of sawed stuff, or a scantling; as,
(a)
pl. (Com. & Arch.) Sawed timbers about 7 by 2 1/2 inches and not less than 6 feet long.
(b)
(Naut.) A strip of wood used in fastening the edges of a tarpaulin to the deck, also around masts to prevent chafing.
(c)
A long, thin strip used to strengthen a part, to cover a crack, etc.
Batten door (Arch.), a door made of boards of the whole length of the door, secured by battens nailed crosswise.



Batten  n.  The movable bar of a loom, which strikes home or closes the threads of a woof.



verb
Batten  v. t.  (past & past part. battened; pres. part. battening)  
1.
To make fat by plenteous feeding; to fatten. "Battening our flocks."
2.
To fertilize or enrich, as land.



Batten  v. t.  To furnish or fasten with battens.
To batten down, to fasten down with battens, as the tarpaulin over the hatches of a ship during a storm.



Batten  v. i.  To grow fat; to grow fat in ease and luxury; to glut one's self. "The pampered monarch lay battening in ease." "Skeptics, with a taste for carrion, who batten on the hideous facts in history, persecutions, inquisitions."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Batten" Quotes from Famous Books



... gaining rapidly on the schooner. I could see the brass glisten on the tiller as it banged about; and still no soul appeared upon her decks. I could not choose but suppose she was deserted. If not, the men were lying drunk below, where I might batten them down, perhaps, and do what I ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7 • Charles H. Sylvester

... Fitz-James's side. 'See the gray pennons I prepare, To seek my true love through the air! I will not lend that savage groom, To break his fall, one downy plume! No!—deep amid disjointed stones, The wolves shall batten on his bones, And then shall his detested plaid, By bush and brier in mid-air stayed, Wave forth a banner fail and free, ...
— The Lady of the Lake • Sir Walter Scott

... success, Burgoyne moved down the east side of the Hudson, and threw a bridge of rafts over that river for the passage of his van, which took post at Saratoga. At the same time Lieutenant Colonel Brechman, with his corps, was advanced to Batten Hill, in order, if necessary, to support ...
— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 2 (of 5) • John Marshall

... indeed, a common thief Is very glad to batten on potatoes and on beef, Or anything, in short, that prison kitchens can afford,— A cut above the diet ...
— More Bab Ballads • W. S. Gilbert

... present day, Tory in political preferences, though there is still a large leaven of that feeling also. But very many persons who are political Liberals are social Tories: they venerate the aristocracy; they batten daily upon the "Court Circular"; they cling to class distinctions in theory, and still more in practice; they strain towards "good society" and social conformity; their ideal is "respectability." Indeed, it appears to me that ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 100, February, 1866 • Various


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