battledore

noun

bat·​tle·​dore

ˈba-tᵊl-ˌdȯr

plural -s

1

a

: a beetle or bat that is used in washing or smoothing clothes

b

: a tool with a long flat blade with a square end that is used in glassworking to flatten the bottoms of vessels

c

: a long-handled paddle that is used for placing loaves in an oven

2

a

: a light flat bat or racket that is used in striking a shuttlecock

b

: battledore and shuttlecock

3

: a child's primer usually made of two or three pages of stiff cardboard on which were printed or impressed the alphabet, numerals, and other rudimentary material and used especially in the 17th and 18th centuries

Word History

Etymology

Middle English batyldore, probably modification of Old Provençal batedor beating instrument, from batre to beat, from Latin battere, battuere

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