Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
A short bat for beating clothes when washing them.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: batling staff, batting staff, battledore, clap staff, fuller’s beetle, laundry bat, washing bat, washing beetle, washing paddle
Antonyms: none provided
History
From bat + -let. Probably a spurious word, in the 20th century reborrowed from word-lists. Both this and batler are only known from the same Shakespeare locus; neither is it known that battler means a fuller’s beetle but him who beetles or “posses” the clothes. However for the meaning of a flat cuboid on a handle to clean textiles by muscles battril, which could be a metathesis of batler, is known to have been used in the Lancashire dialect, such as by Tim Bobbin on multiple occasions.
