Definition of "battledore" [bat•tle•dore]

• An early form of badminton played with a flat wooden paddle and a shuttlecock. (noun)
• The paddle used in this game. (noun)
• A badminton racket. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The shuttlecock is like our own, but the battledore is the sole of the foot."
• "The combatants being stript and painted, and each provided with a kind of battledore or racket, in shape resembling the letter P, with a handle about two feet long and a head loosely wrought with net-work, so as to form a shallow bag, range themselves on different sides."
• "The combatants, being stripped and painted and each provided with a kind of battledore or racket, in shape resembling the letter P with a handle about two feet long and a head loosely wrought with network so as to form"