batten down the hatches

A plunge in the price of oil and other commodities cut China’s import bill, but economists said the drop also reflected spreading weakness in home-grown demand as businesses and consumers battened down the hatches.

Definition

batten Hide phonetics
noun [C]
a long piece of wood, often fixed to something to strengthen it

batten Hide phonetics
verb [T]
The boxes were securely battened (= fastened with pieces of wood) before the journey.

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batten down the hatches
1 to fasten the entrances to the lower part of a ship using wooden boards

2 [I] prepare for a difficult situation:
When you're coming down with flu all you can do is batten down the hatches and wait for it to pass.