knuckleball
English
editEtymology
editNoun
editknuckleball (plural knuckleballs)
- (baseball) A pitch thrown with the ball gripped on the fingertips and released with no rotation, which travels over an unpredictable path to the plate due to micro-turbulence in the air.
- Even the pitcher doesn't know where his knuckleball is going.
- Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield is best known for his use of the knuckleball.
- (figurative) An event that is hard to predict.
- Our vendor keeps throwing us knuckleballs.
Synonyms
edit- (baseball pitch): flutterball, floater, dancer, butterfly ball, ghostball, bug
Translations
editA pitch thrown with the ball gripped on the fingertips and released with no rotation
|
An event that is hard to predict
Verb
editknuckleball (third-person singular simple present knuckleballs, present participle knuckleballing, simple past and past participle knuckleballed)
- (intransitive, baseball) To pitch knuckleballs.
- 2008 April 16, The Associated Press, “Tigers Rally Again to Defeat the Twins”, in New York Times[1]:
- Varitek did not start so Kevin Cash could catch the knuckleballing starter Tim Wakefield.
Derived terms
editSee also
editAlso of interest