batten
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbæt(ə)n/
enpr: băt'-n
ipa: /ˈbætən/
ipa: [-ɾən]
rhymes: -ætən
homophone: baton (one pronunciation)
Forms: form: battens
form: battening
form: battened
form: battened
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: batten
form: batten
form: battened
form: batten
form: battenest
form: battened
form: battenedst
form: battens
form: batteneth
form: battened
form: batten
form: battened
form: batten
form: battened
form: batten
form: -
form: battening
form: battened
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English *battenen, *batnen, of North Germanic origin, probably from Old Norse batna (“to grow better, improve, recover”), from Proto-Germanic *batnaną (“to become better, improve”) (compare Old Norse bati (“advantage, improvement”), from Proto-Germanic *batô (“improvement, recovery”)), from *bataz (“good”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰed- (“good”). Compare battle (“(adjective) improving; fattening, nutritious; fertile, fruitful; (verb) to feed or nourish; to render (land, etc.) fertile or fruitful”) (obsolete).
The adjective is probably derived from the verb.
Cognates
* Dutch baten (“to avail, benefit, profit”)
* Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌱𐌰𐍄𐌽𐌰𐌽 (gabatnan, “to benefit, profit”)
* Icelandic batna (“to improve, recover”)
* Old English batian (“to get better, recover”)
Senses: examples: text: 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, […]
ref: 1637, John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 58:
synonyms: fleshen
stouten
glosses: To cause (an animal, etc.) to become fat or thrive through plenteous feeding; to fatten.
examples: text: [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; […]
ref: 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, […], →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2022, paragraph 6, page 69:
glosses: To enrich or fertilize (land, soil, etc.).
examples: text: No, let him batten; when his tongue
 Once goes, a cat is not worse strung.
ref: c. 1588 (date written; published 1591), John Lyly, Endimion, the Man in the Moone. […], London: […] I[ohn] Charlewood, for the widdowe Broome, →OCLC; republished George P[ierce] Baker, editor, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, 1894, →OCLC, Act III, scene iii, page 50, lines 1126–1127:
text: 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.
ref: 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, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii, page 21:
text: VVe eate our ovvne, and batten more,
 Becauſe vve feed on no mans ſcore:
 But pitie thoſe vvhoſe flanks grovv great,
 Svvel'd vvith the Lard of others meat.
ref: 1648, Robert Herrick, “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, […], →OCLC, page 233:
text: Our vvomen batten vvell on their good-nature;
 All they can rap and rend for the dear creature.
ref: 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, →OCLC, page 349:
text: 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.
ref: 1687, [John Dryden], “[The First Part]”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 22:
text: [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.
ref: 1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book XXII.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 577, lines 106–109:
synonyms: fleshen
stouten
glosses: To become better; to improve in condition; especially of animals, by feeding; to fatten up.
glosses: Of land, soil, etc.: to become fertile; also, of plants: to grow lush.
examples: text: Could you on this faire Mountaine leaue to feed,
 And batten on this Moore?
ref: 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, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 271, column 1:
text: Follovv your Function, go, and batten on colde bits.
ref: 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, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], page 22, column 1:
text: 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.
ref: 1699, [Samuel Garth], “Canto I”, in The Dispensary: A Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Nutt […], →OCLC, page 6:
text: There hath he lain for ages and will lie
 Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep, […]
ref: 1830, Alfred Tennyson, “The Kraken”, in The Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Chicago, Ill.: The Dominion Company, published 1897, →OCLC, page 8:
text: 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!
ref: 1850, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Prometheus Bound. From the Greek of Æschylus.”, in Poems. […], new edition, volume I, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 187:
text: 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.
ref: 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XIV, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.; Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 248:
qualifier: often passive voice
glosses: Followed by on: to eat greedily; to glut.
examples: text: Robber barons who battened on the poor
text: There, in these Dens of Satan, […] do Sieur Motier's mouchards consort and colleague; battening vampyre-like on a People next-door to starvation.
ref: 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “The Wakeful”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book III (The Tuileries), page 108:
glosses: Followed by on: to prosper or thrive, especially at the expense of others.
glosses: To gloat at; to revel in.
examples: text: [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!
ref: 1605 (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Volpone, or The Foxe. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act I, scene iiii, page 461:
text: [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.
ref: 1870, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Courage”, in Society and Solitude. Twelve Chapters, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 247:
glosses: To gratify a morbid appetite or craving.
Derived terms: word: battened
word: battener
word: battening
word: battner