Off your own bat

Posted by Joe on March 20, 2009 at 15:12

In Reply to: Off your own bat posted by John Henson on March 20, 2009 at 11:36:

: Can anyone please tell me the origin of the phrase, "off your own bat"?

Off or On One's Own Bat, phr. (popular).-On one's own account; by one's own exertions. A figurative usage of a cricketing term ; ' Off One's Own Bat,' is said of a score made by a player individually.

1845. Sydney Smith, Fraent. Irish Ch., wks. II., 34o, i. He had no revenues but what he got Off His Own Bat. [u.J

Slang and its analogues past and present: a dictionary, historical and ...ý - Page 141
by John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley - Slang - 1890

A figurative usage of a cricketing term ; ' OFF ONE'S OWN BAT,' is said of a
score made by a player individually.