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beaner

beaner

7 9.9
A pitch in baseball that a pitcher throws on purpose at a batter's head
  • noun
  • Jargon
translation icon : beaner

Synonyms

beanball
vsbeaner
  • Jargon
1 9.3

In baseball, a throw aimed at a batter's head to hurt or scare them

is a deliberate pitch aimed at the batter's head without motive specified

How Dangerous

beaner
  • Jargon
7 9.9
brushback pitch
  • Jargon
1 8.6
wild pitch
  • Jargon
5 6.3
pitch-out
  • Jargon
7.3

Surface Forms

beaner singular
beaners plural

Morphology

beaner = bean (opaque) = bean + er

The word is formally built from 'bean' + '-er', but the baseball sense depends on a specialized slang meaning that is not predictable from the ordinary noun 'bean'.

Etymology

Beaner comes from the slang word bean, meaning 'head', plus the ending -er that makes a person or thing name. In baseball, a beaner is a pitch thrown at or that hits a batter's head, so the name simply means a 'head-hitting' throw.