Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

batch file
     
         (Or script) A text file containing
        {operating system} commands which are executed automatically
        by the {command-line interpreter}.  In {Unix}, this is called
        a "{shell script}" since it is the Unix {shell} which includes
        the {command-line interpreter}.  Batch files can be used as a
        simple way to combine existing commands into new commands.
     
        {autoexec.bat} is the best known example of an {MS-DOS} batch
        file.
     
        (1996-01-07)