DictionaryAI

batty

BAT-ee/ˈbæti/

Adjectivebattier, battiest

Noun pluralbatties

5 meanings of batty

Practice

  1. 1
    adjectiveslang
    Crazy, silly, or a bit out of your mind.

    Like someone whose ideas seem all mixed up and silly.

    Grandpa goes a little batty when he can't find his glasses.

    Everyone thought the plan was completely batty.

    Similarcrazy, nutty, dotty, loopy, bonkers

    Oppositesane, sensible

    Note
  2. 2
    noundialectalMulticultural London Englishcountable
    The bottom, the part of the body you sit on.

    He slipped on the wet floor and landed right on his batty.

    The toddler plopped down on her batty in the sand.

    Similarbum, bottom, butt, backside

    Note
  3. 3
    nounderogatoryCanadaJamaicaUKcountable
    An insulting word for a gay man.

    The bullies called him a batty as he left the pub.

    Stop treating him like a batty, the teacher snapped at the boys.

    Note

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    adjectiveobsolete
    Like a bat, or belonging to a bat, the flying animal.
    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.
    c. 1595, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”Here, batty means like a bat's, so batty wings are wings like a bat's.
    Note
  2. 5
    nounobsolete
    Obsolete form of paddy. An old word once used for rice.
    Note

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1, 4

From the word bat plus -y. The meaning "insane" comes from the idea of having bats in one's belfry, because bats fly around in a wild, erratic way.

Meanings 2–3

From the word bottom, perhaps shaped by the words botty or butt.