Dictionary

batful en · ADJ

Etymology

From Middle English batful, badfull, perhaps from Old English *batfull, equivalent to bat (“to improve"; as in "battle, batten”) + -ful. Compare also Old Norse bati (“improvement, profit, usefulness”).

Meanings

1. (dialectal, obsolete) Rich; fertile, as in reference to land or soil.
   • The batfull pastures fenc’t, and most with quickset mound, / The sundry sorts of soyle, diversitie of ground; […] 1612, Michael Drayton, “Song 3”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 47:

Forms

Synonyms

batten · battle