What it doesn't mean
It was in use in Victorian London — Hotten and Ware both record it — but it is much older. In the form 'batter-fang' it is on record from 1630, and Hotten himself noted it was 'used metaphorically as early as 1630'.
That was Ware's guess (from 'battre', to beat), and he admitted he could not say how it got into English. Green's Dictionary of Slang gives a plainer English origin: batter, to beat, plus the old verb fang, to seize.
What it really means
Batty-fang means to give someone a proper beating. It turns up on lists of Victorian slang, and it was certainly Victorian slang — but it was old before Victoria was born.
J. Redding Ware recorded it in 1909 as Low London slang: to thrash thoroughly. He was puzzled by it. He thought it looked French — battre, to beat — and wondered whether it had come over with the court of Charles II, but admitted it would be difficult to say.
Thirty-five years earlier, John Camden Hotten's Slang Dictionary had already given the better clue. Batty-fang, he wrote, meant to beat, and a batty-fanging was a beating — and the word was also BATTER-FANG, used metaphorically as early as 1630.
That 1630 use is a good one. It comes from John Taylor, the poet who dubbed himself the Water Poet, describing a poor man married to a woman who scolded so much he was batterfang'd and belabour'd with tongue mettle. Beaten, that is, by talk.
Green's Dictionary of Slang explains the parts in plain English: batter, to beat, and fang, an old verb meaning to seize or grab. You catch hold of someone and you batter them. No French required.
So the Victorians did not invent it. By their time the spelling had drifted from batter to batty, and the word was still in use — which is how a word from 1630 ends up on a list of Victorian slang.
Where it comes from
to beat
an old verb: to seize, to grab
Green's Dictionary of Slang derives it from batter + fang, 'to seize, to attack'. Ware guessed at French instead — see the myth below.
- 1630
John Taylor, the 'Water Poet': a henpecked husband 'so batterfang'd and belabour'd with tongue mettle, that he was weary of his life' (quoted by Green's Dictionary of Slang and by Hotten).
- 1864–1874
Hotten's Slang Dictionary: 'BATTY-FANG, to beat; BATTY-FANGING, a beating; also BATTER-FANG.'
- 1909
Ware's Passing English of the Victorian Era: 'Batty-fang (Low London). To thrash thoroughly.'
In real life
- My little brother challenged me to a pillow fight and was thoroughly batty-fanged within a minute.
- The visiting side came in confident and left batty-fanged, five goals to nil.
- She doesn't argue so much as batty-fang you with footnotes.
Questions
Q01What does batty-fang mean?
To beat someone thoroughly. Ware's Passing English of the Victorian Era (1909) defines it as 'to thrash thoroughly'; Hotten's Slang Dictionary (1874) has 'to beat', with batty-fanging meaning 'a beating'.
Q02Is batty-fang a real Victorian word?
It was used in Victorian London, but it is older than that. The form batter-fang is recorded in 1630, in the writing of John Taylor.
Q03Where does batty-fang come from?
Probably from batter (to beat) plus fang, an old English verb meaning to seize — the derivation given by Green's Dictionary of Slang. Ware's French theory was a guess he did not stand behind.
Sources
- J. Redding Ware, Passing English of the Victorian Era (1909), full text — 'Batty-fang'.
- John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary (1874), full text (Project Gutenberg) — 'Batty-Fang'.
- Green's Dictionary of Slang — batter-fang, v. (also batty-fang).
- Mental Floss — Victorian slang list (includes batty-fang).