batty

adj
/ˈbæti/UK/ˈbæti/US

Etymology

From bat + -y. In sense “insane”, attested 1903, from expression have bats in one's belfry, from tendency of bats to fly around erratically. Compare also batshit (“insane”) and squirrelly (“jumpy, eccentric”).

Definitions

  1. Mad, crazy, silly.

    • On Sunday’s David Frost Show, Baroness Thatcher looked quite batty to me, eyes rolling.
  2. Belonging to, or resembling, a bat (mammal).

    • And from each other look thou lead them thus Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep.
  3. The buttocks or anus.

    • He kick the boy down and beat the boy back and batty and leg.
  4. + 3 more definitions
    1. A homosexual man.

      • For example, recent Jamaican 'raga' lyrics by Buju Banton and Brand Nubian attach the affirmation of black identity to crude animosity towards homosexuality and contain offensive language against the 'batties' as icons of non-blackness.
    2. Obsolete form of paddy (“rice”).

      • The rice, or batty, is sown in June, at the commencement of the periodical rains; […]
    3. A surname transferred from the given name.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for batty. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA