Chapter Bath to Battus paieront of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Battledore (3 syl.) means, properly, a baton for washing linen by striking on it to knock out the dirt. The plan is still common in France. The word is the French battoir, a beater used by washerwomen; Portuguese, Batidor, Spanish, batidero, a wash-board.

Battu Autant pleure mal battu que bien battu (French). It little matters whether stripes are given maliciously or not, as they smart the same. Whether misfortunes come from God or Satan, they are misfortunes still. A slight variant is “Autant vaut bien battu que mal battu,” which means, it is of no consequence whether badly beaten or not, enough that I am beaten; “over shoes, over boots.”

Battu de fol Oiseau (Etre), or “être battu de l'oiseau,” to be utterly dismayed; to be dazed. The allusion is to bird-catching at night, when a candle or lantern is held up before the birds aroused from their sleep; the birds, being dazed, are beaten down easily with sticks.

Battus paieront (Les). Væ victis! Those who lose must pay the piper. “C'est le loi du pays de Béarn que le battu paie l'amende.” Again, “C'est la coutume de Lorris, les battus paient l'amende. ” This is certainly the general custom in law and war.