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Glite Dictionary
beanball

beanball

1 9.3
In baseball, a throw aimed at a batter's head to hurt or scare them
  • noun
  • /ˈbiːnˌbɔːl/
  • Jargon
translation icon : bola de frijol
  • Wikipedia on beanballs: "Several players' careers have been impaired or derailed after being struck with a beanball."

Examples

  • And when election time rolls around, they might start throwing a few beanballs themselves.

    Blog text (21)

  • Word of our winning preceded us, and opposing teams shot beanballs at our heads in the early innings.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • What's this, beanball?

    The Bad News Bears (1976)

  • I mean, really—you want to equate a beanball with a football tackle?

    Blog text (5)

  • Wikipedia on beanballs: "Several players' careers have been impaired or derailed after being struck with a beanball."

    Blog text (5)

  • Come on, man, I'm not saying that him throwing at a guy because he swung too hard isn't funny, but to say you don't think it was cool to throw at someone while you write "LOL!" right after you tell the story of a guy throwing a beanball is a little hypocritical.

    Blog text (12)

  • This new sulfurous strain of humor knew no limits of blasphemy whatsoever: it even imagined the game of baseball as a sport in which the batsman, "in the fullness of time," "did lay the Umpire dead," and then was himself annihilated by a beanball that cracked his skull.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The pitcher threw a beanball at the batter's head to intimidate him.

  • After the beanball incident, the umpire had to restore order on the field.

  • He was upset when the opposing team resorted to throwing beanballs during the game.

Synonyms

beaner
vsbeanball
  • Jargon
7 9.9

A pitch in baseball that a pitcher throws on purpose at a batter's head

is thrown to intimidate or retaliate rather than merely being aimed

How Dangerous

beanball
  • Jargon
1 9.3
brushback pitch
  • Jargon
1 8.6
wild pitch
  • Jargon
5 6.3
pitch-out
  • Jargon
7.3

Surface Forms

beanball singular
beanballs plural

Morphology

beanball = bean + ball (semi-transparent) = bean + ball

Formally a compound 'bean' + 'ball' whose intended meaning depends on the slang sense of 'bean' = 'head', so the link is clear for those who know the slang but not for average learners.

Etymology

Beanball comes from bean, an informal word for the 'head', and ball, the object thrown in baseball. So a beanball is a pitch thrown at a batter's head to scare or hurt them.