DCHP-3

bat

DCHP-2 (Nov 2012)

Spelling variants:
seal-bat

1n. — Newfoundland, Fishing

a long pole with a metal hook used to kill seals.

Type: 3. Semantic Change — The term bat refers to a particular tool used in the seal hunt. It is described as "a stout pole, 3-8 feet long with an iron hook and spike fastened to one end, used to assist a sealer on the ice and to kill seals" (see DNE, s.v. "bat"). Hunters use bats to kill seals by hitting them on the back of the head or on the nose (see the 1894, 1895 quotations). The term bat is marked as a semantic narrowing from British English (see OED-3, s.v. "bat" (I)(1), EDD, s.v. "bat" (1)(2)). The term bat is often used in combination with gaff (see the 1842 and 1927 quotations), which is defined as "a type of boat-hook with a (usu. short) wooden handle, used for various fisheries purposes" (see DNE, s.v. "gaff").
See also COD-2, s.v. "bat" (n)(4), which is marked "Cdn (Nfld)".

Quotations

1842
JUKES i, 258 [They] prepared their bats and gaffs.
1854
The slightest tap of a club, or a bat on the back of the head despatches them. When killed, they are stowed away, and carried to St. John's, where they afford additional employment to many hands.
1871
The males are provided with a most extraordinary kind of crest of "hood," consisting, beneath the loose skin, of a large pulpy mass resembling fat, and which can be inflated to a considerable size, at the pleasure or will of the owner, which makes it very difficult to kill them with the ordinary 'seal-bat,' or gaff, or even with a heavy load of shot: they are also, at times, very savage, and it requires great dexterity on the part of the seal-hunters to keep from being bitten.
1895
The usual method to kill a seal is to hit it upon the nose with a club, called a seal-bat, but when once fairly roused bull hood seal is invulnerable there.
1905
CHAFE 6 The procuring of timber from the woods, building vessels, repairing those already in use, building punts, procuring firewood, gaffstems, bats, pokers, oars and other material left nobody with an excuse for being idle.
1927
Chorus: - For we are swoilers fearless, etc. / With bat and gaff and "panning staff" / Surmounted with a flag, sir; / Away we go on the great iceflow, / And we never care to lag, sir.
1928
Fortunately, after she sank, a dory floated up, without oars or anything, but still a godsend to us. Using one thwart and a seal bat we were able to collect our missing men from the small icepans, and when we counted heads we found all present.
1934
BARTLETT 89 He could jump from one pan to another, using the seal bats, short, gaff-like hooks, as though he'd been born a Newfoundlander.
1985
BUSCH 55 The two middle men -- 'batsmen,' for they did little but row and carry a gaff or 'bat' when on the ice -- came cheaply.
1985
In a move of 1967, particularly unpopular among sealers, the gaff was outlawed as a killing tool, and all sealers required to use bats of 24-30 inches. While sealers had indeed used any handy instrument before, and unnecessary cruelty certainly occurred, still the bat was less effective than a properly wielded gaff. A blow from the latter required two hands to deliver [. . .] and [. . .] was likely to be more effective than a single-handed strike with a bat [ . . .] (Norwegians, incidentally, generally use a hakapik, a club with an iron hook on the end.)

References

  • COD-2
  • OED-3
  • EDD
  • DNE