Question:
Can anything other than hatches be battoned down?

( Sir Aunty Grampa Dave the Hat - Can't find glasses he likes - Ta! Cannaoogim!?, Thu 25 Nov 2004, 12:04, archived)

protesters?

( Reckless_Rik, Thu 25 Nov 2004, 12:05, archived)

Batton down the protesters!
Hmm? Doesn't sound quite right to me . . .

( Sir Aunty Grampa Dave the Hat - Can't find glasses he likes - Ta! Cannaoogim!?, Thu 25 Nov 2004, 12:07, archived)

you`re too young to remember the poll tax riots ;-)


or in Belfast it was the Anglo-Irish Agreement :D
( Reckless_Rik, Thu 25 Nov 2004, 12:09, archived)

Yes.
A batten is just a bit of wood, so you can batten pretty much anything down, apart from jelly and the like.
( tomsk, Thu 25 Nov 2004, 12:08, archived)

a batten is a piece of wood layed acrossways (in my magic dictionary anyway). battening down is therefor the act of using this crossways-ness to hold something in place.

so not too many things lend themselves to the act of battenary. a possum perhaps?
() do bears shit on the wooden pope?, Thu 25 Nov 2004, 12:09, archived)