daisy cutter
- noun
- Jargon
:
bola rasante
- Her serve turned into a daisy cutter, bouncing just once before hitting the fence.
Examples
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The batsman hit a daisy cutter that sped past the fielder.
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Spectators gasped as the ball rolled like a daisy cutter across the outfield.
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He hit a daisy cutter that zipped past the infield.
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The pitcher threw a daisy cutter to the batter.
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The batter's swing produced a daisy cutter that skimmed the grass before reaching the outfield.
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As the ball traveled low and fast across the field, it was labeled a daisy cutter by the commentators.
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The soccer player executed a precise daisy cutter, sending the ball rolling just above the turf.
How High
- Jargon
1
3.6
- Specialized
16
3.1
- US
12
4.2
- Jargon
- Jargon
12
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
daisy + cutter
The literal parts 'daisy' (a flower) and 'cutter' (something that cuts) would lead a B1 learner to expect an object that cuts or is related to daisies, not a type of explosive. The specialized military sense 'a bomb designed to fragment' is metaphorical slang and not predictably derived from the constituents or common compositional patterns, so the expression is opaque to learners.
Etymology
Daisy cutter may come from old lawn games where a ball runs so low it looks like it will cut the small daisies on the grass, and cutter shows the cutting action, so the name came to mean 'a very low ball'.