batten

From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbattenbat‧ten1 /ˈbætn/ verb 1 → batten down the hatches 2 → batten on somebody → See Verb table Examples from the Corpusbatten• She could do nothing but batten down the conversational hatches and wait until the storm blew itself out.• Scholars will be battening on the footnotes for years to come.• The same mud which sucked at my shoe, battening on the heel like an animal.• Such societies or covens batten on their own secrecy.• It will be necessary to batten the ceiling to take the new boards.Related topics: Construction battenbatten2 noun [countable] TBCa long narrow piece of wood that is attached to other pieces of wood or another building material to strengthen them and keep them in placeExamples from the Corpusbatten• I prized a batten off the wall behind my bed.• A dual batten option is commonplace, enabling the sail to be set soft if desired.• Dual batten system A way of saying that the sail can use full or half length battens.• And as an aid to drilling, make a simple template from a length of batten.• Fix the batten in place with angle brackets, then attach the blind with touch-and-close fastener.• I nailed the batten back on top.Origin batten2 (1600-1700) French bâton; → BATON

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Word of the day on edge nervous, especially because you are expecting something unpleasant to happen

Verb table

batten

Simple Form

Present

I, you, we, they batten

he, she, it battens

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Past

I, you, he, she, it, we, they battened

Present perfect

I, you, we, they have battened

he, she, it has battened

Past perfect

I, you, he, she, it, we, they had battened

Future

I, you, he, she, it, we, they will batten

Future perfect

I, you, he, she, it, we, they will have battened

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Continuous Form

Present

I am battening

he, she, it is battening

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you, we, they are battening

Past

I, he, she, it was battening

you, we, they were battening

Present perfect

I, you, we, they have been battening

he, she, it has been battening

Past perfect

I, you, he, she, it, we, they had been battening

Future

I, you, he, she, it, we, they will be battening

Future perfect

I, you, he, she, it, we, they will have been battening

> View Less

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