/bat"l dawr', -dohr'/ , n. , v. , battledored, battledoring .
n.
1. Also called battledore and shuttlecock . a game from which badminton was developed, played since ancient times in India and other Asian countries.
2. a light racket for striking the shuttlecock in this game.
3. a 17th- and 18th-century hornbook of wood or cardboard, used as a child's primer.
v.t. , v.i.
4. to toss or fly back and forth: to battledore the plan among one's colleagues.
[ 1400-50; late ME batyldo ( u ) re washing beetle, equiv. to batyl to beat (clothes) in washing (freq. of BAT 1 ) + -dore dung beetle (BEETLE 1 for BEETLE 2 by way of pun, with allusion to filth on clothes). See DOR 1 ]