[W/K] :: batch

  Batch \Batch\, n. [OE. bache, bacche, fr. AS. bacan to bake; cf.
     G. geb[aum]ck and D. baksel. See Bake, v. t.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The quantity of bread baked at one time.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A quantity of anything produced at one operation; a group
        or collection of persons or things of the same kind; as, a
        batch of letters; the next batch of business. "A new batch
        of Lords." --Lady M. W. Montagu.
        [1913 Webster]

  batch
       n 1: all the loaves of bread baked at the same time
       2: (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent;
          "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of
          money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must
          have cost plenty" [syn: deal, flock, good deal, great
          deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle,
          mint, muckle, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite
          a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy
          sum, wad, whole lot, whole slew]
       3: a collection of things or persons to be handled together
          [syn: clutch]
       v : batch together; assemble or process as a batch

  85 Moby Thesaurus words for "batch":
     amount, array, assortment, block, budget, bulk, bunch, bundle,
     chunk, clod, clump, cluster, clutch, collection, considerable,
     copse, count, crop, deal, dose, gob, gobs, good deal, great deal,
     group, grouping, groupment, grove, hassock, heap, heaps, hunk,
     knot, large amount, lashings, loads, loaf, lot, lots, lump, make,
     making, mass, measure, mess, mint, nugget, number, oodles, pack,
     parcel, part, pat, peck, pile, piles, portion, pot, quantity,
     quite a little, raft, rafts, ration, run, scads, set, shock, sight,
     slew, slews, small amount, spate, stack, stacks, stook, sum,
     thicket, tidy sum, tuft, tussock, volume, wad, wads, whole slew,
     wisp
  
  

  batch adj. 1. Non-interactive. Hackers use this somewhat more loosely
     than the traditional technical definitions justify; in particular,
     switches on a normally interactive program that prepare it to receive
     non-interactive command input are often referred to as `batch mode'
     switches. A `batch file' is a series of instructions written to be
     handed to an interactive program running in batch mode. 2. Performance
     of dreary tasks all at one sitting. "I finally sat down in batch mode
     and wrote out checks for all those bills; I guess they'll turn the
     electricity back on next week..." 3. `batching up': Accumulation of a
     number of small tasks that can be lumped together for greater
     efficiency. "I'm batching up those letters to send sometime" "I'm
     batching up bottles to take to the recycling center."