ENGLISH
REFERENCE

bat five hundred

idiom
Meaning

To be successful half of the time; to have a success rate of 50%.


Origin

disputed origin

From the practice of reckoning the batting average of a hitter in baseball in thousandths.

Examples
SIMPLE

I only bat five hundred when I try to cook dinner.

CONTEXTUAL

My sales pitches are hit or miss, so I usually bat five hundred at work.

COMPLEX

Although the young lawyer shows great promise, she currently bats five hundred in the courtroom, winning half her cases.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    a hundred and ten percent

    A level of effort beyond what one can usually sustain; great exertion.

  2. 02

    bat a thousand

    To achieve success at each attempt.

  3. 03

    bat an eyelid

    To react in any slight way; to respond; to care.

  4. 04

    bat for the other team

    To be homosexual.

  5. 05

    bat one's eyes

    To signal or feign by fluttering one's eyelids, as romantic interest.

  6. 06

    bat the breeze

    To chat; to shoot the breeze.

  7. 07

    be a hundred years too early

    To be so immature and unprepared as to have no hope of achieving an accomplishment.

  8. 08

    count to five

    Synonym of count to ten.

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