BATMAN, from French, bat, a kind of pack-saddle, hence bat,horse (cheval de bat), a horse carrying a bat or pack, the batman being the servant in charge of the bat-horse. In course of time the batman was given duties to perform more immediately about the person who employed him, e.g., an officer, such as tend ing his quarters, equipment, etc. The officer's batman of the i8th and early i9th centuries was, to some extent, the counterpart of the mediaeval knight's serving man. In the British service the term batman strictly denotes the soldier who does the general cleaning work for a Warrant Officer, the term servant being re served for the soldier who performs similar duties for an officer.