batten down the hatches
To prepare for trouble.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“We need to batten down the hatches before the storm hits.”
“I always batten down the hatches when my angry boss enters the room.”
“The company is losing money, so the manager told everyone to batten down the hatches and expect budget cuts.”
“When the news reported a massive flu outbreak, families began to batten down the hatches by stocking up on medicine and staying home.”
“The local shops batten down the hatches every time the two rival football teams play a match in this city.”
“As rumours of layoffs spread through the office, veteran employees who had weathered recessions before knew it was time to batten down the hatches.”
Derived from the maritime practice of securing a ship against foul weather by sealing its deck openings. The hatches were covered with tarpaulins and fixed in place by wooden strips, termed battens, which were pinned to the hatch frame to prevent the ingress of seawater during a storm. The phrase entered the general lexicon as an instruction to prepare for an imminent and unavoidable difficulty.
Last updated August 10, 2026