battledore

noun4

1. •
   The racket used in this game.

   • There were nights when it seemed to me that our position could be stormed by twenty Boy Scouts armed with airguns, or twenty Girl Guides armed with battledores, for that matter. — 1938
2. •
   A game played with a shuttlecock and rackets (properly battledore and shuttlecock); a forerunner of badminton.
3. •
   (historical) A wooden paddle-shaped bat or beetle used to wash clothes by beating, stirring, or smoothing them.

   • The laundry process of the time [1665] consisted of boiling textiles with lye or soap and then beating them with a battledore, a rustic version of a cricket bat. — 2018
4. •
   (no longer used) A child's hornbook for learning the alphabet.

   • You will also pardon the errors of the Work, for you know I was not bred to letters; but, that the battledore, at an age not exceeding six, was the last book I used at school. — 1802