curveball

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A forespin pitch thrown by rotating the index and middle fingers down and resulting in…

   A forespin pitch thrown by rotating the index and middle fingers down and resulting in motion down "curve"

   • He bit on a curveball in the dirt.
   • Caglianone ripped Miles Mikolas’ curveball into the right-field corner for an RBI double that scored Salvador Perez in the fourth inning of the first game of a doubleheader against the Cardinals.
   • Cam Smith bounced to shortstop on a 100 mph fastball, and Jacob Melton also grounded out on an 86.9 mph curveball.
2. 2

   An unexpected turn of events initiated by an opponent or chance

   An unexpected turn of events initiated by an opponent or chance; an exception or outlier.

   • Life has thrown him a few curveballs.
   • The season’s first episode, “Bart Gets an F,” got the highest ratings in its history, but “Treehouse of Horror” was the real curveball: a genre-busting effort that proudly punched above the show’s expectations.
   • There are two curveball nominations, one perhaps a popularity bid and the other a credibility bid. The popular one is Bieber’s Purpose.
3. 3

   To throw a curveball.

   • Even though the haughty physics professors at the elite school ridiculed his declaration that he could make a baseball curve, Cummings just laughed it off and said, “I curveballed them to death,” according to Frederick Ivor-Campbell.
   • The news curveballed him. He'd been hamstrung and schizzed all the preceding weeks. He brooded in his den.

The neighborhood

• neighborthrow someone a curve