Dictionary

batlike en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English bat Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-West Germanic *-līk Old English -līċ Middle English -like English -like English batlike From bat + -like.

Meanings

1. Having characteristics similar to those of a bat, usually used with reference to the flying mammal.
   • […] they cling, like creepers or women, to the nearest support, to fly from that corroding ennui and listlessness, those tumults of the mind, which flit batlike amid the golden-groined ceilings, and cannot be dispelled by the lictor guard. 1838, William Gifford et al., The Quarterly Review, page 113:
   • He had told himself bitterly as he walked through the streets that she was a figure of the womanhood of her country, a batlike soul waking to the consciousness of itself in darkness and secrecy and loneliness. 1916, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC:
   • There was a trap somewhere, I felt sure; and though I didn't know the term "hush-money," its meaning flittered, bat-like, about my mind. 1953, L. P. Hartley, The Go-Between:
   • The most famous of these Los Caprichos is “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” (plate 43), which has a sky full of batlike creatures. 1981, James B. Twitchell, The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature, page 29:
2. Similar to that of a bat.
   • His sketches show the details of batlike wings which were to spread out on the downward stroke and fold up with the upward stroke. 1912, Charles B. Hayward, Dirigible Balloons, page 1:
   • What was it? They could not tell themselves. They only knew that the black shadows at the top of the staircase had thickened, had coalesced, had taken a definite, batlike shape. 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
   • The Oilbird is one of the few bird species to use batlike echolocation to help navigate the night and cave darkness. 2006, Les Beletsky, Birds of the World, page 180:

Forms

Synonyms

battish