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Glite Dictionary
🔥 A warming device ⚾ A fast pitch
heater

heater

1 8.7
A very fast ball thrown by the pitcher in baseball
  • noun
  • /ˈhiːtər/
  • Jargon
: recta
  • He can't catch up to a good heater.
  • threw another heater
  • 95-mph heater

Examples

  • Three straight heaters, and the Yankees are blown down.

    Major League (1989)

  • And that's because a heater thrown with precision is really, really hard to hit.

  • You ready for the heater?

    Aquamarine (2006)

  • Hit me with the heater.

    The Sandlot (1993)

  • - The pitch: high heater.

    Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

  • The catcher called for my heater, and I threw it.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The pitch, high heater.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • However, on Saturday, he turned on a 93 mph inside heater and golfed it over the left field wall just like old, fastball-killing times.

    Blog text (2)

  • The pitcher threw a heater that left the batter swinging at air.

  • During the game, he struck out three batters with his fast heater.

Synonyms

fastball
vsheater
  • US
47 3.2

A very fast, straight pitch in baseball

is an informal US word for the same top speed pitch
bullet
vsheater
  • Jargon
1 7.5

A very fast pitch in baseball

is the informal US term focusing on speed rather than shape
hummer
vsheater
  • Jargon
1 9.1

A very fast baseball pitch that is hard to hit

is the informal US slang for that maximum velocity pitch
smoke
vsheater
  • Slang
1 8.5

A very fast pitch in baseball

is the same idea but used more broadly in baseball slang

Compounds

water heater
  • US
30 1.8

A machine that heats and keeps hot water for a home or building

space heater
  • US
13 3.1

A small heater that you can move to warm one room

hot-water heater
  • US
6 3.0

A machine that heats and stores water for a house or building

electric heater
3 2.1

A machine that uses electricity to make a room or small space warm

gas heater
3 2.5

A machine that burns gas to make a room warm

solar heater
2 3.4

A device that uses sunlight to heat water or air

kerosine heater
  • UK
1 4.2

A portable device that burns kerosine to warm a room or cook food

oil heater
1 3.4

A heater that burns oil such as kerosene to warm a room or cook food

kerosene heater
1 3.7

A small heater that burns kerosene to warm a room

immersion heater
1 5.1

A device you put directly in water to heat it

sun heater
  • Specialized
1 3.9

A device that uses sunlight to heat water or a room

sun heater
5.6

A portable electric device with bright heat bulbs that rotates to spread warm light

How Fast

heater
  • Jargon
1 8.7
changeup
  • Specialized
4 5.6
lob
7 4.4

Surface Forms

heater singular
heaters plural

Morphology

heater = heat (semi-transparent) = heat + er

The baseball sense extends from the idea of a 'hot' or fast pitch, but that specialized slang meaning is not fully predictable from the base word alone.

Etymology

In baseball, the word heater comes from heat ('hot' or 'fast') plus -er, and it became a slang name for a very fast pitch. A helpful way to remember it is to picture the ball coming so 'hot' it seems to burn, which is why a fastball is called a heater.