sbattere

Forms

sbattere (first-person singular present sbàtto, first-person singular past historic sbattéi, past participle sbattùto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include sbàctere and sbàtere.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian s- + battere, with the prefix in its intensive sense.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The GDLI takes the prefix from Latin ex-, and Wiktionary allows a Vulgar Latin *exbattere.^[2][1] The base verb continues battere (“to beat”), a variant of the classical infinitive with ⟨-uere⟩.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a canzone of King Enzo (before 1272), where the heart beats hard and repeatedly: tanto 'l cor sbatte e lagna (“so much the heart pounds and laments”).^[3] Brunetto Latini (before 1294) writes of crows that make un grande sbattere d'ali (“a great beating of wings”) before rain.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

Guido delle Colonne (before 1280) used the verb for love shaking and tormenting the heart.^[8] The sense of throwing something with violence is recorded from 1503.^[8] From the 14th century come the participle sbattuto “beaten (of eggs)” and “downcast, pale”, and the noun sbattimento.^[3] Older senses include to deduct (Villani) and to refute an argument (1618).^[10]

In cooking, the sense of beating a liquid until it thickens is found in Mattioli (1550); sbattitore (1839–1841), sbattiuova (1883) and sbattighiaccio “shaker” (1942) followed.^[3] The reflexive sbattersi “to toss about” is found in Aretino (before 1556), and sbattersene “not to care” from 1950.^[3] The vulgar sexual sense is recorded from 1923, and the sense of making someone look pale from 1959.^[3]

Timeline

• Before 1272 – King Enzo uses sbattere of a pounding heart.^[3]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the verb.^[3][11]
• c. 1350 – Sbattimento appears in the translation of Crescenzi.^[3]
• 1503 – The sense “to fling” is recorded.^[8]
• 1550 – Mattioli uses it for beating a liquid.^[3]
• 1883 – Sbattiuova “egg whisk” is recorded.^[3]
• 1923 – The vulgar sense is recorded.^[3]
• 1950 – Sbattersene “not to care” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To beat or shake hard and repeatedly; to flap wings, to blink the eyes: il gabbiano sbatteva le ali.^[11][12][13]
2. To slam a door or window: uscì sbattendo la finestra.^[11][5][13]
3. To beat rugs or blankets to get the dust out.^[11][5]
4. To whisk or whip eggs, cream and the like: sbattere i tuorli con il miele.^[11][12][13]
5. To bump a part of the body against something by accident: ha sbattuto il gomito contro la porta.^[11][5][6]
6. To fling or hurl with force.^[11][6][13]
7. (colloquial) To shove something somewhere carelessly or out of the way.^[11][6][12]
8. (figurative, colloquial) To send someone to an unwelcome place or task: l’hanno sbattuto in un ufficio di provincia.^[11][5][13]
9. (figurative, colloquial) To wear out; to make someone look pale and drawn.^[11][6][13]
10. (vulgar) To have sex with someone roughly.^[11][6][12]
11. (intransitive) To bang about, as shutters in the wind; to flap, as washing or sails.^[11][6]
12. (intransitive) To crash into something: la moto è andata a sbattere contro il guardrail.^[11]

Word family

• sbattighiaccio
• sbattimento
• sbattitore
• sbattiuova
• sbattuta
• sbattuto
• sbattersene
• sbattersi
• risbattere

Related words

• battere
• abbattere
• dibattere

Usage notes

Common set phrases are sbattere la porta in faccia (to turn someone away), non sapere dove sbattere la testa (to be at one's wits' end), sbattere il naso (to learn something the hard way) and sbattere in prima pagina (to splash across the front page).^{[11][12][13][14]}

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 656
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 5, 344
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3353
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli