Bathos
(Ba"thos) n. [Gr. ba`qos depth, fr. baqy`s deep.] (Rhet.) A ludicrous descent from the elevated
to the low, in writing or speech; anticlimax.
Bathybius
(||Ba*thyb"i*us) n. [NL., fr. Gr. baqy`s deep + bi`os life] (Zoöl.) A name given by Prof. Huxley
to a gelatinous substance found in mud dredged from the Atlantic and preserved in alcohol. He supposed
that it was free living protoplasm, covering a large part of the ocean bed. It is now known that the substance
is of chemical, not of organic, origin.
Bathymetric
(Bath`y*met"ric Bath`y*met"ric*al) a. Pertaining to bathymetry; relating to the measurement
of depths, especially of depths in the sea.
Bathymetry
(Ba*thym"e*try) n. [Gr. ba`qos depth + -metry.] The art or science of sounding, or measuring
depths in the sea.
Bating
(Bat"ing) prep. [Strictly p. pr. of Bate to abate.] With the exception of; excepting.
We have little reason to think that they bring many ideas with them, bating some faint ideas of hunger
and thirst.
Locke.
Batiste
(Ba*tiste") n. [F. batiste, from the name of the alleged first maker, Baptiste of Cambrai. Littré.]
Originally, cambric or lawn of fine linen; now applied also to cloth of similar texture made of cotton.
Batlet
(Bat"let) n. [Bat stick + - let.] A short bat for beating clothes in washing them; — called also
batler, batling staff, batting staff. Shak.
Batman
(||Bat"man) n. [Turk. ba&tsdotman.] A weight used in the East, varying according to the
locality; in Turkey, the greater batman is about 157 pounds, the lesser only a fourth of this; at Aleppo and
Smyrna, the batman is 17 pounds. Simmonds.
Batman
(Bat"man) n.; pl. Batmen [F. bât packsaddle + E. man. Cf. Bathorse.] A man who has
charge of a bathorse and his load. Macaulay.
Batoidei
(||Ba*toi"de*i) n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. ba`tos a kind of ray + -oid.] (Zoöl.) The division of fishes
which includes the rays and skates.
Baton
(Bat"on) n. [F. bâton. See Baston.]
1. A staff or truncheon, used for various purposes; as, the baton of a field marshal; the baton of a conductor
in musical performances.
He held the baton of command.
Prescott.
2. (Her.) An ordinary with its ends cut off, borne sinister as a mark of bastardy, and containing one
fourth in breadth of the bend sinister; — called also bastard bar. See Bend sinister.
Batoon
(Ba*toon") n. See Baton, and Baston.
Bat printing
(Bat" print`ing) (Ceramics) A mode of printing on glazed ware.
Batrachia
(||Ba*tra"chi*a) n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. batra`cheios belonging to a frog, fr. ba`trachos frog.]
(Zoöl.) The order of amphibians which includes the frogs and toads; the Anura. Sometimes the word is
used in a wider sense as equivalent to Amphibia.
Batrachian
(Ba*tra"chi*an) a. (Zoöl.) Pertaining to the Batrachia. — n. One of the Batrachia.
