bat a thousand
To achieve success at each attempt.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“She is batting a thousand with her new business ideas.”
“You are batting a thousand with all these great dinner suggestions.”
“The team has been batting a thousand this season, winning every single game they have played so far.”
“I managed to answer every question correctly on the final exam, so I am batting a thousand this semester.”
“The young chef is batting a thousand because every customer has sent back a glowing review of the new menu.”
“Given that he has batted a thousand in every negotiation this year, the board expects him to secure the contract easily.”
first recorded 10th c.
From the statistical conventions of baseball, in which a batting average is expressed as a decimal reflecting the number of hits achieved per 1000 at bats. A player who records a hit for every official appearance at the plate attains a score of 1.000, signifying a perfect performance. The figure 1000 represents the mathematical ideal of one hundred percent efficiency, provided one is willing to ignore the physical exhaustion such a record would imply.
- 01
bat an eyelid
To react in any slight way; to respond; to care.
- 02
bat five hundred
To be successful half of the time; to have a success rate of 50%.
- 03
bat for the other team
To be homosexual.
- 04
bat one's eyes
To signal or feign by fluttering one's eyelids, as romantic interest.
- 05
bat the breeze
To chat; to shoot the breeze.
- 06
cast of thousands
A large number of people in one place or carrying out one action.
- 07
death by a thousand paper cuts
An ultimate negative outcome, such as the failure of a project, brought about by an excessive number of bureaucratic hurdles.
- 08
die a thousand deaths
To suffer repeatedly (often mentally rather than physically); to suffer extreme embarrassment or anxiety.
Last updated August 10, 2026