Definition of "batten"

(transitive, obsolete)

1. To cause (an animal, etc.) to become fat or thrive through plenteous feeding; to fatten.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • VVe drove a field, and both together heard / VVhat time the Gray-fly vvinds her ſultry horn, / Batt'ning our flocks vvith the freſh devvs of night, […]

     1637, John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, page 58

2. (rare) To enrich or fertilize (land, soil, etc.).  quotations

   Quotations

   • [O]thers [i.e., rivers] ariſing and running thorovv this Shire, doe ſo batten the ground, that the Medovves euen in the midſt of VVinter grovv greene; […]

     1612 (indicated as 1611), John Speed, “Stafford-shire”, in The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine: Presenting an Exact Geography of the Kingdomes of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Iles Adioyning: […]‎, London: […] [William Hall] […] and are to be solde by Iohn Sudbury & Georg Humble, […], archived from the original on 2022-07-15, paragraph 6, page 69

(intransitive)

1. To become better; to improve in condition; especially of animals, by feeding; to fatten up.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • No, let him batten; when his tongue / Once goes, a cat is not worse strung.The spelling has been modernized.

     c. 1588 (date written; published 1591), John Lyly, Endimion, the Man in the Moone […], London: […] I[ohn] Charlewood, for the widdowe Broome; republished George P[ierce] Baker, editor, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, 1894, Act III, scene iii, page 50, lines 1126–1127

   • Like enough, Sir, ſhee'll doe forty ſuch things in an houre (an you liſten to her) for her recreation, if the toy take her i'the greaſie kerchiefe: it makes her fat you ſee. Shee battens vvith it.

     1614 November 10 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Beniamin Iohnson [i.e., Ben Jonson], Bartholmew Fayre: A Comedie, […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot, […], published 1631, Act II, scene iii, page 21

   • We eat our own, and batten more, / Because we feed on no man's score; / But pity those whose flanks grow great, / Swell'd with the lard of other's meat.The spelling has been modernized.

     1648, Robert Herrick, “[Epithalamium.] His Content in the Country.”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […]; republished as Henry G. Clarke, editor, Hesperides, or Works both Human and Divine, volume I, London: H. G. Clarke and Co., […], 1844, page 233

   • Our vvomen batten vvell on their good-nature; / All they can rap and rend for the dear creature.

     1684, John Dryden, “Prologue to the Dissappointment: Or, The Mother in Fashion. [By Mr. [Thomas] Southerne, 1684.] Spoken by Mr. [Thomas] Betterton.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, page 349

   • Sure he preſum'd of praiſe, vvho came to ſtock / Th' etherial paſtures vvith ſo fair a flock; / Burniſh'd, and bat'ning on their food, to ſhovv / The diligence of carefull herds belovv.

     1687, [John Dryden], “[The First Part]”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], page 22

   • [S]ome fell ſerpent in his cave expects / The traveller's approach, batten'd vvith herbs / Of baneful juice to fury, forth he looks / Hideous, and lies coil'd all around his den.

     1791, Homer, W[illiam] Cowper, transl., “[The Iliad.] Book XXII.”, in The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 577, lines 106–109

2. Of land, soil, etc.: to become fertile; also, of plants: to grow lush.  examples

3. (often passive voice) Followed by on: to eat greedily; to glut.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Could you on this faire Mountaine leaue to feed, / And batten on this Moore?

     c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iv], page 271, column 1

   • Follovv your Function, go, and batten on colde bits.

     c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene v], page 22, column 1

   • As at full length the pamper'd Monarch lay, / Batt'ning in Eaſe, and ſlumb'ring Life avvay: / A ſpightful Noiſe his dovvny Chains unties, / Haſtes forvvard, and encreaſes as it flies.

     1699, [Samuel Garth], “Canto I”, in The Dispensary: A Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Nutt […], page 6

   • There hath he lain for ages and will lie / Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep, […]

     1830, Alfred Tennyson, “The Kraken”, in The Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Chicago, Ill.: The Dominion Company, published 1897, page 8

   • The strong carnivorous eagle, shall wheel down / To meet thee,—self-called to a daily feast,— / And set his fierce beak in thee, and tear off / The long rags of thy flesh, and batten deep / Upon thy dusky liver!

     1850, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Prometheus Bound. From the Greek of Æschylus.”, in Poems. […], new edition, volume I, London: Chapman & Hall, […], page 187

   • The brain had its own food on which it battened, and the imagination, made grotesque by terror, twisted and distorted as a living thing by pain, danced like some foul puppet on a stand and grinned through moving masks.

     1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XIV, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., page 248

4. (figurative) Followed by on: to prosper or thrive, especially at the expense of others.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • There, in these Dens of Satan, […] do Sieur Motier's mouchards consort and colleague; battening vampyre-like on a People next-door to starvation.

     1837, Thomas Carlyle, “The Wakeful”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, book III (The Tuileries), page 108

5. (figurative) To gloat at; to revel in.  examples

6. (figurative) To gratify a morbid appetite or craving.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • [H]opes he may / VVith charmes, like Æson, haue his youth reſtor'd: / And vvith theſe thoughts ſo battens, as if fate / VVould be as eaſily cheated on, as he, / And all turnes aire!

     1605 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Volpone, or The Foxe. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, Act I, scene iiii, page 461

   • [T]here are sceptics with a taste for carrion who batten on the hideous facts in history, – persecutions, inquisitions, St. Bartholomew massacres, devilish lives, Nero, Cæsar, Borgia, Marat, Lopez, – men in whom every ray of humanity was extinguished, parricides, matricides, and whatever moral monsters.

     1870, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Courage”, in Society and Solitude. Twelve Chapters, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., page 247

(obsolete) Synonym of battle (“of grass or pasture: nutritious to cattle or sheep; of land (originally pastureland) or soil: fertile, fruitful”)  quotations

(carpentry, construction) A plank or strip of wood, or several of such strips arranged side by side, used in construction to hold members of a structure together, to provide a fixing point, to strengthen, or to prevent warping.  examples

(specifically)

1. (theater) , one used for illuminating a stage; (by extension, also attributive) a long bar, usually metal, affixed to the ceiling or fly system and used to support curtains, scenery, etc.  examples

2. (nautical) A long, narrow strip, originally of wood but now also of fibreglass, metal, etc., used for various purposes aboard a ship; especially one attached to a mast or spar for protection, one holding down the edge of a tarpaulin covering a hatch to prevent water from entering the hatch, one inserted in a pocket sewn on a sail to keep it flat, or one from which a hammock is suspended.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The next morning, we took the battens from the hatches, and opened the ship.

     1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., chapter XXIX, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], page 326

   • She was too sick to get out of bed, and he was not able to hoist her up without assistance; […] we were permitted to come in and hoist her ladyship up again to the battens.

     1840, [Frederick] Marryat, “In which, Like Most People, who Tell Their Own Stories, I Begin with the Histories of Other People”, in Poor Jack. […], London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], page 6

   • In carvel construction, the planks which cover the sides of the vessel lie alongside one another without overlapping and the seams are calked. Where the construction is too light to admit calking, a narrow batten or ribband is run along the seams inside.

     1972 September 1, “Basic Construction of Small Boats and Ships”, in Marine Crewman’s Handbook (Technical Manual; 55-501), Washington, D.C.: Headquarters, Department of the Army, section II (The Construction of Small Boats), page 12-3

3. (weaving) The movable bar of a loom, which strikes home or closes the threads of a woof.  examples

To furnish (something) with battens (noun sense 1).  examples

(chiefly nautical) Chiefly followed by down: to fasten or secure (a hatch, opening, etc.) using battens (noun sense 2.2).  quotations  examples