line drive
12
4.2
- noun
- /laɪn draɪv/
- US
:
batazo raso
- The batter connected perfectly, sending a line drive straight to center field.
- hit line drive
- catch a line drive
- hard line drive
Examples
-
Davis swings at the second pitch and it's a line drive to right.
Blog text (29) -
The pitch... and it's a long line drive to deep left center.
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And a line drive to left center.
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A swing and a line drive into right field.
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Oh, a line drive, and the bases are loaded!
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Line drive scores a run.
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There's a line drive down the right field line!
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Next couple of pitches, I want to see some line drives, no matter where the pitch is.
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Got on base with a line-drive single his last at bat.
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Swing and a line-drive base hit.
Synonyms
19
3.9
A hard, fast baseball hit that flies low and straight
Antonyms
How High
- Jargon
1
3.6
- Specialized
16
3.1
- US
12
4.2
- Jargon
- Jargon
12
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning ('a hard-hit ball that flies straight and low') is directly compositional from 'drive' (to strike a ball hard) and 'line' (a straight trajectory), so a learner who knows both words and the baseball context can infer the sense. This transparent noun+verb/compound pattern is common cross-linguistically in sports vocabulary and thus should be understandable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Line drive comes from baseball. The name uses line for a straight path and drive for a hard hit, so you can imagine the ball driven in a low, straight line across the field. That's why the phrase means 'a ball hit hard that flies straight and low'.