brown bat
- noun
- /braʊn bæt/
- These were little brown bats, an inch and a half to two inches from crown to paw, with a wingspan of three to four inches.
- a little brown bat
- a big brown bat
- a single brown bat
And it's been fiendishly difficult because there are some species such as the little brown bat.
- And it's been fiendishly difficult because there are some species such as the little brown bat.
Examples
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After rereading Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats, including the extended glossary, compare and contrast the brown bat and the California leaf-nosed bat.
Academic text (2012) -
There is no floor in the house, so I can see two brown bats sleeping upside down.
Fiction book (2000) -
November 3, 2011: "In the nation's Northeast, millions of brown bats are dying off.
Blog text (11) -
A hibernating little brown bat, for example, may take a breath less often than once an hour.
Academic text (2007) -
The prompt asked him to compare and contrast the brown bat and the California leaf-nosed bat.
Academic text (2012) -
As you may know, there's such a thing as a Carpathian brown bat, common in these highlands.
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OK, that's the little brown bat to Pierce's lab and held the cage in front of the parabolic horn.
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Table 1. Annual number of rabid animals confirmed, Coconino County, Arizona, USA, 2008-2010 pre-formatted table: Number of animals positive for brown bat rabies virus variant.
Academic text (2012) -
A small brown bat hangs upside down in a dark corner of the cave.
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In the summer, the brown bat flies out at dusk to hunt for insects.
Synonyms
A small animal that flies at night and finds food by sound
A small brown flying animal common in North America that sleeps in houses and forests
A small brown bat common across North America
A small common North American bat that lives across the continent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase 'brown bat' is a straightforward adjective + noun composition whose meaning — a bat that is brown in color — is directly derivable from the constituents 'brown' and 'bat'. This literal descriptive pattern is cross-linguistically common and would be immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
Brown bat is a simple name made from brown and bat. Picture a small brown animal hanging in a barn or cave and catching insects at dusk. So the name means 'a small, insect-eating bat' today.