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knuckleball

noun

Etymology

From knuckle + ball.

  1. derived from *bʰel-✻
  2. derived from *bʰélō✻
  3. inherited from *balluz✻
  4. derived from bǫllr
  5. inherited from *beall✻
  6. inherited from bal
  7. compounded as knuckleball — “knuckle + ball”

Definitions

  1. A pitch thrown with the ball gripped on the fingertips and released with no rotation,…

    A pitch thrown with the ball gripped on the fingertips and released with no rotation, which travels over an unpredictable path to the plate due to micro-turbulence in the air.

    • Even the pitcher doesn't know where his knuckleball is going.
    • Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield is best known for his use of the knuckleball.

  2. A type of delivery where a fast bowler holds the ball on the knuckles of the index and…

    A type of delivery where a fast bowler holds the ball on the knuckles of the index and middle fingers.

  3. An event that is hard to predict.

    • Our vendor keeps throwing us knuckleballs.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. To pitch knuckleballs.

      • Varitek did not start so Kevin Cash could catch the knuckleballing starter Tim Wakefield.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for knuckleball. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA