come to bat

verb

To have one's turn at bat.

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Meanings

verbcome to bat (third-person singular simple present comes to bat, present participle coming to bat, simple past came to bat, past participle come to bat)

present singular third person comes to bat · participle present coming to bat · past came to bat

  1. ball gamesTo have one's turn at bat.

    In that case, the player who was called out for failure to come to bat properly is charged with having been put out, and whatever happened that resulted in the improper batter being put out goes into the scoring box of the batter who failed to bat in proper turn.

    2015, Andres Wirkmaa, The Complete Baseball Scorekeeping Handbook, →ISBN
    1 more example

    New Zealand stuck doggedly to a plan that centred on batting patience. Henry Nicholls' 55, and 47 from Tom Latham, held things together in the face of some probing England bowling. The value of the Black Caps' pragmatism in reaching 241-8 was shown when England came to bat.

    2019 July 14, Stephan Shemilt, “England win Cricket World Cup: Ben Stokes stars in dramatic finale against New Zealand”, in BBC Sport, London
  2. To argue in defense of.

    Unfortunately, if anybody above [the manager] or around her cared, they didn't come to bat for me.

    2012, Leslie Neal-Boylan, Nurses With Disabilities: Professional Issues and Job Retention, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

come to bat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20to%20bat

MLA

“come to bat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20to%20bat. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “come to bat,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20to%20bat.

Source: come to bat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.