battledore and shuttlecock

== English == === Noun === battledore and shuttlecock (uncountable) (historical) An early version of the game badminton. 1953 — Bertrand Russell, 'Satan in the Suburbs' or ' Horrors Manufactured Here' . (A short story published in 'Satan in the Suburbs and other stories' , Penguin Books (1953), at p.19.) At night before I slept alternate horrors of ruin buffeted me this way and that in an endless game of battledore and shuttlecock. ==== Translations ====