bat an eyelid

bat an eyelid

English

WOTD – 25 July 2009

Alternative forms

• bat an eye
• bat an eyelash

Etymology

From bat (“flutter”), circa 1900.[1]

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

bat an eyelid (third-person singular simple present bats an eyelid, present participle batting an eyelid, simple past and past participle batted an eyelid)

1. (idiomatic, chiefly in the negative) To react in any slight way; to respond; to care.

   Synonym: flinch

   When laptop computers first came out they were something of a novelty. These days, nobody bats an eyelid.

   • 1914, Edgar Beecher Bronson, The Vanguard, page 155:

     […] he got the drop on Cox, the only time I had seen or heard of its being done — had his pistol out and stuck in Cox's face before Cox could bat an eyelid.

   • 2006, Pete Takeda, An Eye at the Top of the World, page 116:

     If you were to walk into a salon in America after a few 10–12 hour days of sweaty, dusty travel with no shower, you'd probably be politely asked to leave and not return until you've cleaned up. But here in a land whose resources and infrastructure cannot sustain such frivolity, the barber doesn't even bat an eyelid.

   • 2007, Fionn Davenport, Dublin Encounter, page 153:

     Dublin's not a bad place to be gay. Most people wouldn't bat an eyelid at public displays of affection between same-sex couples […]

Derived terms

• without batting an eyelid

 

Translations

to react in any slight way

Armenian: ռեակցիա տալ (ṙeakcʿia tal), տանձին լինել (tanjin linel) Chinese: Mandarin: 眨眼 (zh) Finnish: räpäyttää silmää, väräyttää eväänsä German: mit der Wimper zucken Hungarian: szeme se rebben (negative) Italian: battere ciglio Norwegian: heve et øyelokk, heve et øyenbryn Russian: моргну́ть гла́зом (morgnútʹ glázom), (negative) гла́зом не моргну́ть (glázom ne morgnútʹ, literally “not to wink an eye”), (negative) у́хом не повести́ (úxom ne povestí, literally “not to stir an ear”) Spanish: inmutarse (es) Swedish: höja på ögonbrynen

See also

• bat one's eyes
• turn a hair

References

1. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, 1997, p. 720