fruit bat

noun

: any of a family (Pteropodidae of the suborder Megachiroptera) of often large tropical and subtropical Old World bats that feed on ripe fruit, pollen, and nectar and that usually use visual navigation rather than echolocation

called also flying fox

Illustration of fruit bat

Illustration of fruit bat
  • fruit bat with fruit

Examples of fruit bat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web This breathtaking voyage features the Kimberley’s Ord River, home to freshwater crocodiles and fruit bats. Kerry Spencer, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Dec. 2023 The men in the village often hunted larger fruit bats with roughly foot-long wingspans, called little collared fruit bats—one of only three bat species thought to carry the Ebola virus. Laurie Garrett, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2015 In a 2016 study of Egyptian fruit bats, researchers recorded the bats for months and used a voice recognition program to analyze thousands of different sounds. Julia Daye, Miami Herald, 8 May 2024 Some of our fruit bat findings may be unrelated to metabolism or are specific only to Jamaican fruit bats. Wei Gordon, Discover Magazine, 12 Jan. 2024 See all Example Sentences for fruit bat 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fruit bat.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fruit bat was in 1877

Dictionary Entries Near fruit bat

Cite this Entry

“Fruit bat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fruit%20bat. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.

Kids Definition

fruit bat

noun
: any of numerous large Old World fruit-eating bats of warm regions

called also flying fox

More from Merriam-Webster on fruit bat

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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