A History of Short Words

From the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

BAT

Wed, 16 Aug '23
Cricket club
Wed, 12 Jul '23
Flutter, as eyelashes
Tue, 24 Jan '23
Article of cricket equipment
Sun, 15 Jan '23
Halloween symbol
Fri, 30 Dec '22
Mexican free-tailed ___ (world's fastest horizontal flier)
Sat, 24 Dec '22
Try for a hit
Sat, 19 Nov '22
Flutter
Fri, 28 Oct '22
Member of the mammalian order Chiroptera ("hand wing")
Fri, 19 Aug '22
Be up
Wed, 20 Apr '22
Animal that symbolizes good fortune in Chinese culture
Tue, 14 Sep '21
Diamond club
Wed, 4 Aug '21
___-Signal