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

• fruit bat with fruit

Examples of fruit bat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By using wireless probes connected to the hippocampi of six Egyptian fruit bats during aerial food-foraging, Yartsev’s team has pioneered the breakthrough recording of pings not from individual bat neurons, but simultaneously from groups of hundreds of them. —New Atlas, 11 Nov. 2025

In the past, the Small Mammals Building has been the home of such animals as fruit bats, sloths, porcupines, armadillos, tamarins, otters, lemurs and mongooses. —Jim Higgins, jsonline.com, 28 Oct. 2025

In the trees lining the avenues, thousands of fruit bats roost through the day and then take flight at dusk. —Samanth Subramanian, The Dial, 14 Oct. 2025

Each year between late October and January, more than 10 million fruit bats descend on the park to feed on fruit trees. —Mazuba Kapambwe, AFAR Media, 10 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fruit bat

• begat
• bobcat
• chitchat
• doormat
• ducat
• eclat
• format
• hazmat
• muskrat
• nonfat
• polecat
• thereat

Kids Definition

fruit bat

noun

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

called also flying fox