a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
1580s, "pertaining to bats," from bat (n.2). Slang sense "nuts, crazy" is attested from 1903, from the expression (to have) bats in (one's) belfry, also meaning "not right in the head" (1901).
mod. and batty. crazy. : You are driving me batty! , You are bats if you think I would ever wear a haircut like that.
mod. and batty. alcohol intoxicated; confused and drunk. : The guy was bats—stewed to his ears. , He was a bit batty, but he'd been drinking since noon, so no one was surprised.
n. the batsthe delirium tremens. (Always with the.) : My buddy is shaking because of a slight case of the bats.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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