Little League
- noun
- /ˈlɪtəl liɡ/
- Every summer, kids eagerly sign up for Little League to enjoy baseball and make new friends.
- a Little League team
- Little League baseball
So we played Cowboys and Indians, went to play Little League ball.
- So we played Cowboys and Indians, went to play Little League ball.
- And it sounds like it all kind of started with Little League.
- I, I, I played baseball as a kid, you know, Little League baseball.
- But honestly, a lot of my friends like Chandler, I, I played Little League with him.
- So, you know, and, and it, it makes sense, you know, if I am the coach of my kids Little League team.
Examples
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And so we were in like the Little League championship game, which is what you work all summer towards or whatever, right for your season.
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It's part of the effort to build a baseball park and attract a Little League franchise.
Fiction book (1997) -
I saw that in Little League with my older son.
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You used to play Little League with my brother.
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You ought to catch me during Little League season.
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I had that built when my son started Little League.
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We played on the same Little League team one season.
Fiction book (2000) -
The story was inspired by her own experiences as a Little League parent.
Fiction book (1994) -
Fred caught Terry as she was leaving for her Little League game.
Fiction book (1995) -
They're a Little League team, just won the big game, celebrating and having a ball.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an organized sports league for children' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'little' (young/juvenile) with 'league' (a sports organization). This compositional pattern is common cross‑linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer it refers to a youth sports league (even if they might not know the specific baseball/softball organization).
Etymology
Little League shows the idea: little players in their own league of teams. It began when communities organized baseball and softball for kids, so today Little League means an organized 'league' for 'children'.