Batten /(băt"t'n)/

Bat·ten

Batten

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Battened; p. pr. & vb. n. Battening

  1. To make fat by plenteous feeding; to fatten.
  2. To fertilize or enrich, as land.

Batten

v. i.
  1. To grow fat; to grow fat in ease and luxury; to glut one's self.
    The pampered monarch lay battening in ease.
    — Garth.
    Skeptics, with a taste for carrion, who batten on the hideous facts in history, -- persecutions, inquisitions.

Batten

n.
  1. A strip of sawed stuff, or a scantling; (Com. & Arch.)

Phrases & Compounds
Batten door
a door made of boards of the whole length of the door, secured by battens nailed crosswise.

Batten

v. t.
  1. To furnish or fasten with battens.

Phrases & Compounds
To batten down
to fasten down with battens, as the tarpaulin over the hatches of a ship during a storm.

Batten

n.
  1. The movable bar of a loom, which strikes home or closes the threads of a woof.