batten

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive)To cause (an animal, etc.) to become fat or thrive through plenteous feeding; to fatten.

   “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, […]”

2. (obsolete, rare, transitive)To enrich or fertilize (land, soil, etc.).

   “[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; […]”

3. (intransitive)To become better; to improve in condition; especially of animals, by feeding; to fatten up.

   “No, let him batten; when his tongue / Once goes, a cat is not worse strung.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

   “Our vvomen batten vvell on their good-nature; / All they can rap and rend for the dear creature.”

   “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.”

4. (intransitive)Of land, soil, etc.: to become fertile; also, of plants: to grow lush.
5. (intransitive)Followed by on: to eat greedily; to glut.

   “Could you on this faire Mountaine leaue to feed, / And batten on this Moore?”

   “Follovv your Function, go, and batten on colde bits.”

   “As at full length the pamper'd Monarch lay, / Batt'ning in eaſe, and ſlumbring Life avvay / A ſpightful noiſe his dovvny Chains unties, / Haſtes forvvard, and encreaſes as it flies.”

   “There hath he lain for ages and will lie / Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep, […]”

   “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!”

6. (figuratively, intransitive)Followed by on: to prosper or thrive, especially at the expense of others.

   “Robber barons who battened on the poor”

   “There, in these Dens of Satan, […] do Sieur Motier's mouchards consort and colleague; battening vampyre-like on a People next-door to starvation.”

7. (figuratively, intransitive)To gloat at; to revel in.
8. (figuratively, intransitive)To gratify a morbid appetite or craving.

   “[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!”

   “[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.”

9. (transitive)To furnish (something) with battens (noun etymology 2, noun sense 1).
10. (transitive)Chiefly followed by down: to fasten or secure (a hatch, opening, etc.) using battens (noun etymology 2, noun sense 2.2).

    “Nail down the lid; caulk the seams; pay over the same with pitch; batten them down tight, and hang it with the snap-spring over the ship's stern. Were ever such things done before with a coffin?”

adj

1. (obsolete)Synonym of battle (“of grass or pasture: nutritious to cattle or sheep; of land (originally pastureland) or soil: fertile, fruitful”).

   “The Soile for the moſt part is lifted vp into many hilles, parted aſunder vvith narrovv and ſhort vallies, and a ſhallovv earth doth couer their out-ſide, vvhich by a Sea-vveede called Orevvood, and a certaine kinde of fruitfull Sea-ſand, they make ſo ranke and batten, as is vncredible.”

noun

1. A plank or strip of wood, or several of such strips arranged side by side, used in construction to hold members of a structure together, to provide a fixing point, to strengthen, or to prevent warping.
2. (specifically)A strip of wood holding a number of lamps; especially (theater), one used for illuminating a stage; (by extension, also attributive) a long bar, usually metal, affixed to the ceiling or fly system and used to support curtains, scenery, etc.
3. (specifically)A long, narrow strip, originally of wood but now also of fibreglass, metal, etc., used for various purposes aboard a ship; especially one attached to a mast or spar for protection, one holding down the edge of a tarpaulin covering a hatch to prevent water from entering the hatch, one inserted in a pocket sewn on a sail to keep it flat, or one from which a hammock is suspended.

   “The next morning, we took the battens from the hatches, and opened the ship.”

   “She was too sick to get out of bed, and he was not able to hoist her up without assistance; […] we were permitted to come in and hoist her ladyship up again to the battens.”

   “In carvel construction, the planks which cover the sides of the vessel lie alongside one another without overlapping and the seams are calked. Where the construction is too light to admit calking, a narrow batten or ribband is run along the seams inside.”

4. (specifically)The movable bar of a loom, which strikes home or closes the threads of a woof.

name

1. A surname.