batten down

verb

battened down; battening down; battens down
Synonyms of batten downnext
1
: to prepare for possible trouble or difficulty
People are battening down in preparation for a fierce storm.
2
: to tie, close, or cover (something) in order to prevent it from moving or becoming damaged
Everything on the ship's deck was battened down.

Examples of batten down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Time to batten down the hatches. — NBC news, 2 Nov. 2025 Venting toward the peak helps keep air moving regardless of whether the fly is fully battened down or flung wide open. — New Atlas, 9 Dec. 2025 These actions loosen up or batten down portions of the genome and are akin to opening or closing doors to specific genes. — Ivan Amato, Quanta Magazine, 22 Dec. 2025 Netflix is battening down the hatches to prepare for a sudden deluge of streaming viewers. — Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 26 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for batten down

Rhymes for batten down

See All Rhymes for batten down

Browse Nearby Words

batten door
batten down
batten down the hatches
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Batten down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/batten%20down. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All