grand slam
- noun
- /ɡrænd slæm/
- Jargon
- Future Hall of Famers Ford and Marichal squared off in Game 4—a grand slam in the seventh got us the game and tied the series.
- hit a grand slam
- career grand slam
- first grand slam
Examples
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In bridge, winning a hand with all the tricks is known as a grand slam.
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They achieved a grand slam in their final match, taking all the tricks beautifully.
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Do you know what a grand slam is?
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Whatever the case, it was a grand slam.
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I hit a grand slam to win the game.
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This is a grand slam.
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I watched you ever since you hit the grand slam... against South Bay in the '82 city championship.
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It's a grand slam!
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In 1990, Luis Polonia hit an inside-the-park grand slam for the Angels in a 9-5 win over the Yankees.
Blog text (13) -
Of his six career homers, Crawford has two three-run homers and two grand slams in support of Lincecum.
Blog text (12)
Synonyms
How Ambitious
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is partly compositional: 'grand' intensifies and 'slam' (in card-game jargon) denotes winning all the tricks, so a learner who already knows the specialized noun 'slam' can infer a larger or complete victory. However, 'slam' as a technical bridge term is domain-specific and not transparent to most B1 learners, so the overall phrase is only partially predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The noun grand slam comes from old card games like bridge. A slam meant a big win and a grand slam was when a player took every trick in one hand, so it means 'taking every trick' or a complete victory.