So, to teach idioms with time, you may teach the 8 idioms found in this worksheet called Time Flies When You’re Having Fun. Before presenting the idioms, make sure students understand that they are usually used in spoken English, and rarely in written form, with some exceptions (they are widely used on the Internet, in blogs, ezine articles. Idioms from: 'bolt from the blue' to: 'knock down with a feather'. Eyes on stalks If your eyes are on stalks when you look at something, they are wide open with surprise or amazement. 'The child's eyes were on stalks as he watched the magician's performance.' (your) jaw drops If someone's jaw drops.
SURPRISE - ASTONISHMENT - DISBELIEF, page 1
Idioms
from: 'bolt from the blue' to: 'knock down with a feather'
- (a) bolt from the blue
- To refer to something as a bolt from the blue means that it happened totally unexpectedly and was a complete surprise.
'The chairman's resignation came as a bolt from the blue.'
- To refer to something as a bolt from the blue means that it happened totally unexpectedly and was a complete surprise.
- out of the blue
- If something happens out of the blue, it happens unexpectedly and causes a surprise.
'I had nearly given up hope when out of the blue I was offered a job'
- If something happens out of the blue, it happens unexpectedly and causes a surprise.
- caught unawares
- If someone is caught unawares, they are surprised and unprepared for what happens.
'The security guard moved so silently that the thief was caught unawares.'
- If someone is caught unawares, they are surprised and unprepared for what happens.
- credibility gap
- The extent of disbelief, of the difference between what you are asked to believe and what you are able to believe, is called a credibility gap
'The growing credibility gap may lead to a serious loss of votes in the next elections.'
- The extent of disbelief, of the difference between what you are asked to believe and what you are able to believe, is called a credibility gap
- do a double take
- Someone who does a double take looks again in surprise at something unexpected.
'He did a double take when he saw his wife in a restaurant with another man.'
- Someone who does a double take looks again in surprise at something unexpected.
- drop a bombshell
- If you drop a bombshell, you make an unexpected announcement which will greatly change a situation.
'The chairman dropped a bombshell when he announced the merger with the company's biggest rival.'
- If you drop a bombshell, you make an unexpected announcement which will greatly change a situation.
- eyes on stalks
- If your eyes are on stalks when you look at something, they are wide open with surprise or amazement.
'The child's eyes were on stalks as he watched the magician's performance.'
- If your eyes are on stalks when you look at something, they are wide open with surprise or amazement.
- (your) jaw drops
- If someone's jaw drops, they show total amazement.
'When the prize was announced, the winner's jaw dropped.'
- If someone's jaw drops, they show total amazement.
- jump out of one's skin
- If you jump out of your skin, you are extremely surprised or shocked.
'Jane nearly jumped out of her skin when the horse put its head through the kitchen window!'
- If you jump out of your skin, you are extremely surprised or shocked.
- knock your socks off
- If something amazes you, or impresses you greatly, it knocks your socks off.
'The magnitude of the project will knock the socks off everyone in the office.'
- If something amazes you, or impresses you greatly, it knocks your socks off.
- knock down with a feather
- To say 'you could have knocked me down with a feather' emphasizes the fact that you were extremely surprised.
'When I heard the name of the winner, you could have knocked me down with a feather!'
- To say 'you could have knocked me down with a feather' emphasizes the fact that you were extremely surprised.
Alphabetical lists:
All Idiom Lists
Please note that British English spelling is used on this website.
This is an alphabetical list of common English-language idioms based on baseball, excluding the extended metaphorreferring to sex, and including illustrative examples for each entry. Particularly American English has been enriched by expressions derived from the game of baseball.
See also the Glossary of baseball for the jargon of the game itself, as used by participants, fans, reporters, announcers, and analysts of the game.
- 1B
- 2C
- 3D
- 4E
- 5F
- 6G
- 7H
- 8I
- 9K
- 10L
- 11M
- 12N
- 13O
- 14P
- 15R
- 16S
- 17T
- 18W
B[edit]
ballpark[edit]
'They said Itanium would never be their fastest 32-bit processor, but it would be in the ballpark. The original x86 hardware execution mechanism was not in the ballpark. It was barely in the parking lot around the ballpark,' Brookwood said.' – Stephen Shankland The New York Times, 23 April 2003.[2]
'Patrick Wiles, a vice president of First Pioneer Farm Credit in Riverhead, said the 'ballpark figure' for prime vineyard land on the North Fork is $50,000 to $60,000 an acre, 'assuming the development rights have been sold.' – Howard G. Goldberg, The New York Times, 18 July 2004.[3]
MSNBC said Hillary knocked it “out of the park”. –New American Media, 27 August 2008.[4]
batting 1000[edit]
'But Boston Scientific also needs to hope that a rare event does not become magnified,' he said. 'It has to be pretty much batting a thousand for a time,' he said'. — Reed Abelson, The New York Times, 27 July 2004.[6]
beanball or throw a beanball[edit]
headline: 'Senator Jim Bunning Throws Beanball at America’s Unemployed' – Mason Lerner, The Faster Times, 26 February 2010.[7]
- [Note: Then-Sen. Bunning had an established career as a Major League Baseball pitcher prior to running for public office.]
'But Brown and Whitman didn’t swing at the questions, instead choosing to stick to a game of political beanball — trading jabs on Whitman’s housekeeper, a Brown aide’s “whore” remark and even verbal miscues. – Steven Luo, California Beat, 13 October 2010.[8]
big hitter(s)[edit]
- At the highest level; used as a noun ('He is a big hitter').
big league(s)[edit]
'For a listener who last heard the New Haven Symphony in the mid-60's, in a game but scrappy performance of Britten's War Requiem, its concert on Friday evening was a happy surprise. Under its music director, Michael Palmer, it sounded for the most part like a big-league band, at home in a big-league setting'. — James Oestreich, The New York Times, 25 January 1994.[10]
brand new ballgame[edit]
'It's a Brand New Ballgame for Outsourcing Real Estate' — John C. Maher, National Real Estate Investor, 1 July 2005.[11]
'Brand new ball game: New peanut program brings change' — Paul L. Hollis, Southwest Farm Press, 21 March 2002.[12]
brush back[edit]
'The Washington Times' George Archibald reports that Gerald A. Reynolds, assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education, has sent a long overdue brush-back letter to college and university officials concerning their odious and oppressive campus speech codes'. — David Limbaugh,The Washington Times, August 19, 2003.[14]
'One spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, has been throwing brushback pitches at reporters who write about Romney’s faith, asking if they would write similar stories about Jews'. – Jeffrey Goldberg, Bloomberg News, June 18, 2012.[15]
bush-league[edit]
'Kinsley, who does come off as the stereotypical Los Angeles-hating East Coast wonk, said recently that because L.A. is the second biggest city in the country, 'it's really bush league to care about where the writers are from.'— Catherine Seipp, National Review, March 24, 2005.[17]
C[edit]
Charley horse[edit]
'Tried on more than 1,400 patients for almost two years, it has proved effective for many kinds of pain in the muscles and around joints — charley horse, tennis elbow, stiff neck, torticollis ('wryneck'), whiplash injury, muscular rheumatism, and muscle pain resulting from slipped disks'. — Time, 8 June 1959[19]
cleanup hitter[edit]
Under the headline 'Merrill's cleanup hitter: new position focuses on quality of research,' it is stated that 'at Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., the 'buy,' 'sell' and 'hold' buck stops with William J. Genco'.[21]
Under the headline 'Trimeris Gets a Cleanup Hitter,' it is stated that 'Yesterday, tiny drug developer Trimeris (Nasdaq: TRMS) announced that it finally found a permanent CEO to help get itself in order following the resignation of its former leader a year ago.[22]
Referring to President George W. Bush: 'There is a reason he is the current president and it is not just because of his Daddy or money — I think he makes a pretty solid cleanup hitter for the Republican Party and brought home the points made during the previous 4 days of the convention'.[23]
closer[edit]
- In baseball, a closing pitcher brought in to finish the game. In business, the person brought in to close the deal, get things done.[citation needed]
cover one's bases[edit]
'Arson investigators sifted through the rubble of an Airdrie Stud barn today, but failed to determine the cause of a fire that killed 15 thoroughbred broodmares and yearlings Saturday night. The horses were worth more than $1 million, according to Brereton Jones, owner of the 3,000-acre (12 km2) stud farm. 'We do not have any reason to believe it was arson, but you just want to be sure you cover all the bases,' he said'. — Associated Press, in The New York Times, 7 January 1985.[26]
'Cisco’s FastHub 400 series has the bases covered'.[27]
curve, curveball[edit]
'Because of my personal story, I'm very interested in illness. One thing we discovered as a family is that when you're thrown a curveball like cancer or multiple sclerosis, often people do not know what to do first'. – Meredith Vieira, quoted by Jeff Chu, Time, 27 August 2006.[29]
'Desormeaux chalked up the latest loss, his second so close to the Triple Crown, to another twist in a life so full of them. 'Life throws curves,' he said, 'Some of us hit it, and some of us will sulk around. We've continued to hit the curveball''. – The New York Times, 8 June 2008.[30]
D[edit]
double header[edit]
'The city's three mayoral candidates finished Wednesday's political double header with a debate at First Congregational United Church for Christ. ...The evening debate did not differ greatly from the luncheon forum that local Rotarians and Kiwanians hosted earlier in the day' — Andrew Edwards, Contra Costa Times, 21 October 2009[31]
down to the last out[edit]
'Hillary Clinton is now down to her last out'.[32]
ducks on a pond[edit]
- In baseball, having runners in scoring position, ready for a batter to drive them home. In business, 'a situation with a good chance to succeed'.[33]
E[edit]
extra innings[edit]
headline: 'Extra Innings for the Cloned Food Debate' – Pallavi Gogoi, Bloomberg Businessweek, 2 April 2007[34]
headline: 'Microsoft, Yahoo Game Going Into Extra Innings?' – Erika Morphy, E-Commerce Times, 5 June 2008[35]
F[edit]
first base[edit]
- In baseball, a batter hopes to reach first base and then continue around second and third bases before reaching home and scoring a run. In interpersonal relations, an individual who cannot get to first base with another person is unable to achieve some initial goal or to establish a relationship. A kiss might be first base in a romantic relationship. Getting an appointment with a potential customer might be first base in a business transaction or negotiation.
Under the headline, 'Getting Past First Base,' a writer asks: 'How do you turn an initial contact with a prospect into a fully-fledged business relationship? It’s the essence of sales – but it’s an area where many people really struggle'. — Ian Brodie, 8 November 2008.[36]
first inning or early innings[edit]
headline: 'Geithner: Tax reform debate in 'first inning'' — Bernie Becker,The Hill, 27 January 2011.[37]
headline: 'Early Innings of a Banking Recovery' — Duncan Frearson, Smith Street Capital, July 13, 2010.[38]
foot in the bucket[edit]
'Even if you haven’t stepped in the bucket yet, you may one day. So here are Be Better Guys’ Tips for Handling a Screw Up at Work' – Be Better Guys: A Guy's Guide to Getting a Life, 17 June 2009.[39]
four-bagger[edit]
Referring to the prospects of a high-tech company, a headline reads, 'Is Netflix a Four-Bagger in the Making'?[40] – The Motley Fool, 6 October 2013.
G[edit]
grand slam[edit]
headline: 'Natural Gas in Bear Market 'Grand Slam'' – Patti Domm, Market Insider, CNBC, 11 February 2011.[41]
headline: 'Boeing Hits Grand Slam with Four DoD Deals' – John Adams, GovconWire, 7 September 2010.[42]
grandstanding[edit]
'Tellem weighed in with a thoughtful back-page article in this Sunday's New York Times regarding the recent Congressional and mainstream media grandstanding over steroids'. — Jay Jaffe, Futility Infielder, 5 April 2005.[43]
headline: 'Stop the grandstanding on the debt ceiling!' — CNN Money, 5 January 2011.[44]
'Opinions were varied and passionate, but there was no sniping, no partisan grandstanding.' — Alex Williams, The New York Times, June 22, 2012.[45]
ground ball[edit]
“Sony once hit home runs, but now it’s lost its touch,” said Akihiko Jojima, an analyst and author of the book Sony’s Sickness. “Sony still makes competent products but they’re all just boring ground balls.” — Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times, 28 March 2010.[46]
H[edit]
hardball, play hardball[edit]
'Hauser would like to extend its three-year contract with Bristol-Myers, becoming a supplier of the material for semi-synthetic Taxol. 'I think this is just tough bargaining,' said Deborah Wardwell of Dain Bosworth Securities. 'It seems to suggest hardball tactics.' — Milt Freudenheim, The New York Times, 10 January 2007.[48]
heavy hitter[edit]
headline: 'Heavy-hitters line up for Hong Kong Tourism pitch'.[49]
headline: 'Boeing uses him as its heavy hitter. As it's done with other troubled programs, the company is relying on Patrick Shanahan to get the 787 back on track' — Los Angeles Times, 24 February 2008.[50]
headline: 'UW Adds Heavy Hitters from High Tech and Biotech to Turn More Ideas Into Companies'.[51]
hit it out of the park[edit]
'11:55 AM: Kerry stumbled over the question of whether God is on America's side. But Edwardshit it out of the park with his anecdote about Abraham Lincoln saying America is on God's side. He is the more nimble debater and conversationalist'. — Katherine Q. Seelye, The New York Times, 29 February 2004.[52]
hit or miss[edit]
headline: 'Treating Depression Can Be Hit or Miss' – Los Angeles Times, 3 August 2009.[53]
'Hit or Miss? Kim Kardashian’s T-Shirt Dress'.[54]
hit singles[edit]
- See 'singles'.
home run[edit]
- A complete success (opposite of strike out); often used in the verb phrase 'hit a home run'. OED cites this usage to 1965.[55]
'HGTV caught on quickly, and is now carried in 90 million homes. The Food Network has been a home run as well, luring viewers interested in cooking'. — Geraldine Fabrikant, The New York Times, 14 August 2006.[56]
'It was Silver's later, 15-month training period with the Apollo 15 astronauts, and that crew's brilliant geological performance on the lunar plain between the Apennine Mountains and Hadley Rille, a sinuous gorge, that, in Silver's words, 'hit a home run.' — Marcy Drexler, Caltech News, 1999.[57]
I[edit]
inside baseball[edit]
under the headline 'Dana Milbank's Inside Baseball,' a news story begins: 'With a few deft strokes and in fewer than 25 inches, Dana Milbank draws behind-the-scenes portraits of Washington power with such dexterity and hilarity that his Washington Sketch column is a must-read for anyone who wants to know how politics in this city really works'. – Brigid Schulte, The Washington Post, 2 March 2010.[58]
'I once had to hire a writer to create my firm’s brochure, because what I did was far too “inside baseball.” Meaning, too focused on the details only an insider could love and not enough on what the audience wanted to know'.[59]
'It ain't over till it's over!'[edit]
'In spite of last winter's nice snowpack and a wet summer, here's the bad news about New Mexico's drought: It ain't over till it's over, and it ain't over'. — Staci Matlock, The New Mexican, 9 October 2005.[60]
'It's like déjà vu all over again!'[edit]
'Kay told CNN he is worried because he's hearing some of the same signals about Iran and its nuclear program that were heard as the Bush administration made its case for the war in Iraq. 'It's déjà vu all over again,' Kay said'. — David Kay, former U.S. chief weapons inspector (quote).[62]
K[edit]
knock it out of the park[edit]
- See hit it out of the park.
knock the cover off the ball[edit]
'In the last two quarters, we knocked the cover off the ball. . . . We exceeded analysts' expectations on Wall Street and our own guidance in both quarters'.[63]
L[edit]
late innings[edit]
- See 'ninth inning'.
leadoff hitter[edit]
headline: 'The American Patriot Program announces August leadoff hitters for its national campaign'.[64]
'The decision to place Ms. Obama centre stage in Denver is something of a gamble; rarely have the spouses of presidential candidates played leadoff hitter in such a high-stakes political exercise'.[65]
left field[edit]
'Depp's performance came out of left field in The Curse of the Black Pearl; nobody had ever thought of channeling Keith Richards and Pepé Le Pew before'. — Kent Williams, Isthmus: The Daily Page.[67]
M[edit]
major league[edit]
'When you've landed a tenure-track position at that university, you're playing in the major leagues.'[68]
Mendoza line[edit]
'Over the last five years, Wall Street analysts have only been right once. They're below the Mendoza line, batting just 200. And they're misleading investors again' — Brit Ryle, Taipan Financial News, 13 December 2005.
Murderers' Row[edit]
'He was the unexpected underdog who comes out of nowhere and starts landing one uppercut after another into the chins of a murderer’s [sic] row of 800-pound gorillas.' — Andrew Leonard, Salon.com, 10 March 2008.
Headline: 'Here's The Murderers' Row Of Talent Bill Simmons Recruited For His New Site' — Noah Davis, Business Insider, 2 June 2011.[69]
N[edit]
ninth inning[edit]
'We're in the late innings for U.S. small-cap stocks,' said Richard Bernstein, chief investment strategist at Merrill Lynch & Co.' – Wall Street Journal, 31 December 2007.[72]
O[edit]
o-fer[edit]
- Also oh-fer. If a baseball batter gets 0 hits in any number of at-bats in a game, he's said to go 'oh for' that number (as in 0-3, said as 'Oh for three'), or perhaps even more colloquially, to 'have an o-fer'. In business, an example of an 'o-fer' would be to try repeatedly and fail to make any sales.
Under the headline 'Senate Dems go O-fer,' it is reported: 'The Senate just voted on whether to proceed with four budgets: the House 2012 budget, the Toomey budget, the Paul budget, and President Obama's 2012 proposal. All were voted down'.[73]
off base[edit]
'The absence of any sharp new angle, any strong new drive in Mr. Roosevelt's messages reflected the fact that he and his Cabinet (only Messrs. Hull. Murphy, Woodring, Edison and Ickes were at hand) had been caught off-base with the rest of the world by the Hitler-Stalin deal, the sudden push for Poland'. — Time, 3 September 1939.[75]
'Lotte Ulbricht replied that Madame Yang was way off base. No one was demanding that oppressed nations live happily with their oppressors, she said, and added that Russia was, as always, 'wholeheartedly behind the revolutionary struggles of colonial peoples.' — Time, 5 July 1963.[76]
on deck[edit]
![Rarely Used Idioms In Swahili Rarely Used Idioms In Swahili](/uploads/1/2/5/0/125001598/515821442.jpg)
headline: 'Barletta, 0-2, back on deck' – Roderick Random, Scranton Times, 30 May 2009.[78]
lede: 'With no one else as formidable, Republicans are pressuring the Hazleton mayor [Barletta] to run against the longtime Democratic congressman next year'. – Scranton Times, 30 May 2009.[79]
headline: 'Loren French is On Deck to Speak to Us at EntConnect 2007!' – A Better Blogsite, 1 February 2007[80]
one base at a time[edit]
'Organizations instead need a deep bench of players with varying capabilities and a clear strategy for advancing ideas one base at a time. That’s what puts runs on the scoreboard and delivers value to members or customers'.[81]
headline: 'For RNA polymerase, it's one base at a time'.[82]
out of left field[edit]
- See left field.
![Rarely Used Idioms In Swahili Rarely Used Idioms In Swahili](/uploads/1/2/5/0/125001598/422138637.png)
P[edit]
pinch hit[edit]
'In April 2005, after Mr. Jennings took leave of World News Tonight, as the program was then known, to be treated for lung cancer, Mr. Gibson was one of several anchors (including Ms. Sawyer and Elizabeth Vargas) who pinch-hit for him until his death in August 2005, and then continued to rotate in and out of Mr. Jennings’s empty chair for four months'. — Bill Carter and Jacques Steinberg, The New York Times, 1 March 2007.[84]
pitch a shutout[edit]
To not allow an opponent any wins. In baseball, a shutout occurs when a pitcher does not allow the opponent any runs.'The Republican Party pitched a shutout in the South in 2000 and 2004'.[85]
play ball[edit]
'Eight U.S. attorneys who did not play ball with the political agenda of this administration were dropped from the team,' said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois'.[89]
play softball[edit]
- To ask easy questions. Perhaps the opposite of playing hardball (baseball) or throwing difficult or probing questions at a respondent.
R[edit]
rain-check (rain-cheque)[edit]
'To deal with frustration among holiday shoppers hunting for its Wii game console, Nintendo Co. and retailer GameStop Corp. are launching a rain check program'. — Tribune wires, Chicago Tribune, 19 December 2007.[93]
'Another scheduled member of the party, Pat McKenna, White House doorkeeper for thirty-five years, was prevented from making the trip due to an illness in his immediate family, but the President said at his press conference today that he had given McKenna a rain check on the next cruise.' — 'Roosevelt starts for ocean cruise.' The New York Times, April 30, 1938.[94]
rally cap[edit]
headline: 'Muni Market Traders Keep Their Rally Caps On' – Patrick McGee, The Bond Buyer, 15 April 2011.[95]
relief pitcher[edit]
- In baseball a relief pitcher comes in as a replacement for the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher. A relief pitcher in other realms of activity also comes in as a substitute or replacement for the initial or regular occupant of a role.
'Vincent B. Orange doesn’t see himself as an opportunist. Rather, he’s more of a 'relief pitcher' with the chops to push the District’s business goals, he said, after council member Harry Thomas Jr. relinquished control of the Committee on Economic Development while he fights a lawsuit accusing him of taking public funds for personal use'.--The Washington Times, 9 June 2011.[96]
rhubarb[edit]
'If the theater people won their point, it was not much of a point to win. The entire rhubarb, after all, was about nothing but money'. — Time, 7 June 1963.[99]
right off the bat[edit]
'It was very clear right off the bat that the loss of Cdk5 made them have a much stronger associative memory,' Professor Bibb said'. — Reuters, The New York Times, 29 May 2007.[101]
S[edit]
'Say it ain't so, Joe!'[edit]
- An expression of disbelief. A reference to the Black Sox scandal of 1919, when several members of the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers to lose the World Series on purpose. When Shoeless Joe Jackson was implicated in the scandal, an apocryphal story says that a young fan approached him and said, 'Say it ain't so, Joe!'
screwball[edit]
'And now, as we enter not only the best season for stocks in the calendar year, but also the very best three quarters in the four-year election cycle, you’d think you should just sit back and enjoy the ride, right? But I’m worried the market may be getting ready to throw us a screwball'. – MarketWatch, 16 October 2010.[103]
shutout[edit]
- See 'pitch a shutout'.
singles or hit singles[edit]
'With the duration [of bonds] tailwind on the wane, investors must literally scour the globe for opportunities, seeking coins and jewels rather than treasure chests. In baseball vernacular, investors must now aim to hit singles rather than swinging for the fences'. – Anthony J. Crescenzi, Morningstar.com, 22 December 2010.[104]
small ball[edit]
- In modern baseball play and analysis (sabermetrics), small ball refers to a strategy that focuses on gaining a small or step-by-step edge on the opponent not by trying to knock the ball out of the ballpark but instead by getting singles, stealing bases, and moving runners along one base at a time. In other endeavors, a similar focus on the details, winning a few points at a time rather than trying for large gains, may also be described as small ball.
headline: 'The president plays small ball' – Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 26 January 2012.[105]
headline: 'In Need of a Game Change, Santorum Plays Small Ball' – Nate Silver, The New York Times, 17 March 2012.[106]
softball[edit]
- See 'play softball'.
step up to the plate[edit]
headline: 'First Responders Stepped Up to the Plate'.[108]
headline: 'Pig Farmers Have Stepped Up to the Plate'.[109]
strike[edit]
- As in 'strike out', 'three strikes, you're out', 'a strike against you', 'he was born with two strikes against him'. In baseball, a strike is when the batter swings at and misses a pitch, or when the pitch crosses the strike zone without the batter swinging. A batter with three strikes is out and must stop batting.
headline: 'Everybody Struck Out in Marietta Teen Drinking Incident' – Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 25 February 2010.[110]
'The British bank Barclays has announced its next CEO. But Bob Diamond already seemingly has two strikes against him going in. One thing, he's an American. And number two, he's head of the company's investment banking arm'. – American Public Media, 'Marketplace', 7 September 2010.[111]
strike out swinging[edit]
- To fail while giving it your best effort.
strike out looking[edit]
- To fail by being passive, without even making an effort.
swing and miss[edit]
To try but fail, like swinging a bat and missing the ball. Also see 'whiff.''I've swung and missed a lot in my hunt for vintage Levis'.[112]
Referring to the disappointing purchase of a living-room couch, 'Todd: Hey batter, hey batter, sometimes when you’re looking for the rainbow curve away, you get the heater down the middle. Maybe that’s why you swung and missed'.[113]
'The 1988-2000 employment projections: how accurate were they? In the late 1980s, we projected future employment in scores of occupations for the 1988-2000 period. That future is now the past. See where we scored a hit, landed in the ballpark, and – now and then – swung and missed.[114]
swing for the fences[edit]
'These are opportunities that traders look for every day. That many of them noticed it and swung for the fences all at once is not collusion, it's just the sign of a huge softball coming right down the line'.[115]
switch-hitter[edit]
An article titled 'Hatteras Plans Switch-Hitting Ethernet' discusses a network switch that can operate either on fiber optic or copper wiring.[118]
T[edit]
take cuts at someone[edit]
headline: 'Ex-teammates take cuts at A-Rod'.[119]
headline: 'Opponents Sure to Take Cuts at Stadium Votes in Anaheim Political Game'[120]
three strikes law[edit]
- See Strike.
took the collar[edit]
'The News, you recall, took the collar as the 'failing newspaper' when the two sought Justice Department approval in 2000 to merge their business operations'.[121]
touch bases[edit]
- As in 'we will touch bases at the meeting'. To make contact with someone, to inform someone of one's plans or activities, perhaps in anticipation of an event. In baseball, a player who is touching a base is not in danger of being put out. Another explanation is that a player must briefly touch each of the bases in order after hitting a home run. It may also refer to the fact that after a fly ball has been caught for an out, a runner on base who has taken a lead or is standing off his base towards the next base, must go back to touch or tag that base ('tag up') before he can advance to the next one.
'Trevor, it's been a while. I'd like to touch bases with you next week to discuss our quarterly sales targets.'
triple play[edit]
- In baseball a triple play is the rare act of making three outs during the same continuous play. The OED attributes the original usage of 'triple play' to the American game of baseball as early as 1869.[122]
headline: 'President Obama's Wednesday NYC Triple Play.' – Celeste Katz, New York Daily News, 26 April 2011.[123]
lede on same story: 'Brace yourself, New York City! President Obama is returning tomorrow for his third visit in less than a month, bringing the increasingly familiar swirl of traffic – and buckraking – that surrounds presidential campaigns'.
headline: 'Cosmic Triple-Play: Asteroid Flyby, Fireball over Utah, Meteor Shower' – Charles Q. Choi, SPACE.com, 18 November 2009.[124]
W[edit]
wheelhouse[edit]
'Carville also said he had not spoken with Hillary Clinton about Richardson's endorsement, but that he was outraged. 'I doubt if Gov. Richardson and I will be terribly close in the future,' he said, but 'I've had my say. . . . I got one in the wheelhouse and I tagged him.'[127]
whiff[edit]
'After Richardson whiffed on the question, Joe Bidenparked it'.[128]
'Yahoo and MSN each whiffed on six questions. There was only one question that baffled all the search engines'.[129]
whole new ball game[edit]
Under the headline 'It's a Whole New Ballgame for Obama,' it is stated that, 'Barack Obama, we all know by now, is not an ideologue. But where his roots are planted is also nowhere near the progressive pendulum, particularly on domestic issues. Now he's got a playing field that suits his natural political conservatism'. – Taylor Marsh, Huffington Post, 7 January 2011.[131]
'In fact, on-demand applications are a whole ‘nother ballgame — which is why personally I try to avoid the popular phrase software as a service (SaaS) since I feel it’s a phrase that’s born of the ‘nothing changes’ mindset'. – Phil Wainewright, ZDNet, 16 March 2006.[132]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Ballpark Figure Idiom Definition and Origin'. Theidioms.com. Largest Idioms Dictionary. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^Stephen Shankland, 'Intel plans Itanium course correction' The New York Times, 23 April 2003.
- ^'Long Island Vines; Macari Price: $9.5 Million'
- ^'Hillary Resonates with Winning Speech'Archived 2008-11-21 at the Wayback Machine [retrieved 8 July 2011]
- ^AHDI
- ^Reed Abelson, 'After a Recall, Boston Scientific Tries to Assure Wary Investors' New York Times, July 27, 2004.
- ^'The Faster Times'. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
- ^Steven Luo, 'DEBATE ANALYSIS: Brokaw brings heat, candidates refuse to swing' California Beat, 13 October 2010Archived 2010-11-21 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^OED
- ^James Oestreich, 'New Haven Symphony Orchestra Carnegie Hall',The New York Times, 25 January 1994.
- ^National Real Estate Investor, July 1, 2005.[retrieved September 28, 2011]
- ^Paul L. Hollis, 'Brand new ball game: New peanut program brings change,' Southwest Farm Press, March 21, 2002. [retrieved September 28, 2011]
- ^AHD4Archived 2008-04-16 at the Wayback Machine, M-W, etc.
- ^David Limbaugh, 'Targeting speech codes on campus', The Washington Times, August 19, 2003.
- ^Jeffrey Goldberg, 'What if Mitt Romney Were Jewish,' Bloomberg.com, June 18, 2012.
- ^OED
- ^Catherine Seipp, 'Afflict the Comfortable: Chicks on their Laptops', National Review, March 24, 2005.
- ^OED
- ^'Brave New Soma,'Time, June 8, 1959.
- ^OED
- ^'Merrill's cleanup hitter: new position focuses on quality of research'. BNET.[dead link]
- ^Brian Lawler, 'Trimeris Gets a Cleanup Hitter,' The Motley Fool, November 16, 2007.
- ^'Clean-Up Hitter,' Techmomind, September 3, 2004Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^Del Jones, 'Do Foreign Executives Balk at Sports Jargon?'USA Today, March 30, 2007.
- ^Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
- ^'Fatal Barn Fire Still A Mystery', The New York Times, 7 January 1985.
- ^J. B. Miles, GCN (Government Computer News), November 2, 2000. [retrieved online 22 December 2011]
- ^Dictionary.com [retrieved April 5, 2012].
- ^Jeff Chu, '10 Questions for Meredith Vieira', Time, 27 August 2006.
- ^Greg Bishop, 'Desormeaux Falls Short, But Has no Regrets,' [1]The New York Times, June 8, 2008.
- ^Andrew Edwards, 'San Bernardino mayoral candidates debate again,' Contra Costa Times, October 21, 2009Archived March 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^Steve Kornacki, 'In Wisconsin, Another Grim Result for Hillary,' New York ObserverArchived 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine (February 20, 2008).
- ^Del Jones, 'Do foreign executives balk at sports jargon,' USA Today, March 30, 2007.
- ^Extra Innings for the Cloned Food Debate
- ^E-Commerce News: Deals: Microsoft, Yahoo Game Going Into Extra Innings?
- ^IanBrodie.com, November 8, 2008.
- ^Becker, The Hill [retrieved 25 February 2011]
- ^As reprinted in HedgeFund.net. [retrieved 25 February 2011]
- ^BBG.com [retrieved 25 February 2011]
- ^Anders Bylund, 'Is Netflix a Four-Bagger?' The Motley Fool, October 6, 2013.
- ^Domm 'Grand Slam'Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine [retrieved 25 February 2011]
- ^GovconWire: News on the Business of Government Contracting
- ^Jay Jaffe, 'Clearing the Bases,' FutilityInfielder.com, April 5, 2005Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. [retrieved 7 August 2011]
- ^James Hamilton, 'Stop the grandstanding on the debt ceiling,' CNN Money, January 5, 2011.
- ^Alex Williams, 'Chris Hayes Has Arrived With ‘Up’,' The New York Times, June 22, 2012.
- ^Hiroko Tabuchi, 'Sony Pursues a Bold Success to Match Its Scale,' The New York Times, March 28, 2010.
- ^OED.
- ^'Bristol-Myers will not Renew Hauser Pact'.
- ^CampaignLive.UK [retrieved 4 April 2010]
- ^Pae, Peter (2008-02-24). 'Boeing uses him as its heavy hitter'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
- ^Xconomy.com [retrieved 4 April 2010]
- ^'The Democratic Presidential Debate'
- ^Devon Schuyler, 'Treating Depression Can Be Hit or Miss,' Los Angeles Times, August 2, 2009.
- ^CelebrityBeautyBuzz [retrieved 3-5-2010].
- ^OED.
- ^'Scripps Is in Search of Its Next Food Network'
- ^Marcy, Drexler, 'A Little Science on the Moon,' Vol. 33, No. 3 of Caltech News 1999Archived 2011-10-17 at the Wayback Machine. [retrieved online September 9, 2011]
- ^Brigid Schulte, 'Story Lab: Dana Milbank's Inside Baseball,' Washington Post, March 2, 2010Archived September 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^'Inside Baseball: What Is Marketing?' Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog: Getting to the Point: http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/trackback/140/FPZ10J6m/ [retrieved 11 May 2010].
- ^'Experts: No end in sight for New Mexico drought'
- ^'The Wisdom Of Yogi-isms'. CBS News. July 9, 2003.
- ^'Kay, Carter urge caution on Iran', CNN.com, February 9, 2005.
- ^Joel Ronning, CEO Digital River, quoted by Rob Wright, 'Digital River Sees Revenue Climb', VarBusiness, 29 January 2004.
- ^PRLOG [retrieved 4 April 2010].
- ^NationalPost[permanent dead link] [retrieved 4 April 2010]
- ^Shaw, Arnold (December 1949). 'The Vocabulary of Tin-Pan Alley Explained'. Notes. Music Library Association. 7 (1): 33–34, 48. doi:10.2307/889665. JSTOR889665.
- ^'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' (review), no date
- ^'Dictionary and Thesaurus | Merriam-Webster'. www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
- ^Noah Davis, 'Here's the Murderor's Row of Talent Bill Simmons Recruited for his New Site,' Business Insider,June 2, 2011.
- ^'Market Wrap: No Ninth Inning for Credit Crisis'. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10.
- ^Ninth-inning farewell
- ^Burton, Jonathan (December 31, 2007). 'Free Preview - WSJ.com'. The Wall Street Journal.
- ^Joseph Lawler, 'Senate Dems Go Oh-fer,' The American Spectator, May 25, 2011 Archived May 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. [retrieved September 11, 2011]
- ^OED
- ^'Off-Base'
- ^'The Women's Club (Marxist Model)', Time, 5 July 1963.
- ^OED
- ^Random, Scranton TimesArchived 2011-08-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Roderick, Scranton TimesArchived 2009-06-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^A Better Blogsite. February 1, 2007. [retrieved 14 May 2011]
- ^Jeffrey Cufaude, 'There's More than One Way to Score Runs,' Jeffrey Cufaude, Idea Architects, August 21, 2009.
- ^TheScientist
- ^OED.
- ^'With Anchors Still Settling In, NBC Feels Pressure at the Top'.
- ^Kevin Merida, 'They're On a Roll to Get Out the Vote,' Washington Post (February 6, 2008).
- ^Note, however, that in Major League Baseball, the umpire is only obligated to call 'Play'. 'Official Rules: 4.00 Starting and Ending a Game'. Major League Baseball. Retrieved 2007-06-05. AHDI
- ^AHDI.
- ^Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms.
- ^Laurie Kellman, 'Gonzales losing Republican backing', The Toronto Star, 15 March 2007.
- ^Chicago Times, July 8, 1877
- ^Morris, Peter. '15.1.3 Rain Checks'. A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball. pp. 411–412.
- ^Morris thanks David Ball for the reference
- ^''Nintendo Wii for Christmas? Shopping advice','. Archived from the original on 2008-02-17. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
- ^Special to the New York Times. (1938, Apr 30). Roosevelt starts for ocean cruise. The New York Times, pp. 1-1. http://search.proquest.com/docview/102636953
- ^Patrick McGee, The Bond Buyer, 15 April 2011.
- ^'Orange says he’s a qualified ‘relief pitcher’ ready to succeed Thomas on committee,' The Washington Times, June 9, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
- ^Etymonline
- ^OED.
- ^'Dear Me, the Sky Is Falling'
- ^OED.
- ^'Turning Off Suspect Gene Makes Mice Smarter'
- ^OED.
- ^Howard Gold, 'Sell in November and go away?,' MarketWatch, October 16, 2010.
- ^Anthony J. Crescenzi, 'PIMCO: Eight Reasons Why This Is Not a Bond Bubble,' Morningstar.com, 22 December 2010.
- ^Charles Krauthammer, The president plays small ball,' The Washington Post, January 26, 2012.
- ^Nate Silver, 'In Need of a Game Change, Santorum Plays Small Ball,' The New York Times, March 17, 2012.
- ^OED.
- ^ArmyLive [retrieved 3-5-2010]
- ^Pig farmers step up[permanent dead link]. [retrieved 3-5-2010].
- ^Maureen Downey, 'Everybody struck out in Marietta teen drinking incident,' AJC, February 25, 2010 Archived February 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^Stephen Beard, 'Controversy Over Barclays New CEO', American Public Media, 'Marketplace', 7 September 2010 (retrieved 27 April 2011)
- ^Thrifting – Page 3 - superfuture :: supertalk
- ^'ann arbor is overrated. » Blog Archive » Everything Hits At Once'. Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
- ^The 1988-2000 employment projections: how accurate were they? In the late 1980s, we projected future employment in scores of occupations for the 1988-2000 period. That future is now the past. See where we scored a hit, landed in the ballpark, and-now...
- ^David Callaway, 'Sure sign the Greek crisis is over – Commentary: First, blame all the hedge funds,' MarketWatch, March 4, 2010.
- ^OED.
- ^Merriam Webster
- ^LightReading [retrieved 3-5-2010].
- ^Mark Feinsand, 'Ex-Teammates Take Cuts at A-Rod,' New York Daily News, February 9, 2009.
- ^'Opponents Sure to Take Cuts at Stadium Votes in Anaheim Political Game'. Los Angeles Times. 1996-06-30. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
- ^'Up and Down 17th Street: Papers' reports do not tell whole circulation story : Columns & Blogs : The Rocky Mountain News'. Archived from the original on 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
- ^OED
- ^NY Daily News, April 26, 2011.
- ^Space.com, November 18, 2009. [retrieved 14 May 2011]
- ^Dickson, Paul (1873). The new Dickson Baseball Dictionary. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 533. Cited first 1959 by Bill Rigney; Etymology attributed to Peter Tamony who suggested that batters 'wheel' at the ball ('take good, level 'roundhouse' swings')
- ^Rigney, Bill – Orlando Cepeda's slump. San Francisco Chronicle, May 11, 1959
- ^'Obama supporter references Bill Clinton and 'blue dress' - CNN.com'. 2008-03-24. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
- ^'Top of the Ticket : Los Angeles Times : The YouTube debate'. The Los Angeles Times. 2007-07-23. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
- ^Will Price: Alan Morgan - VC Best Practices
- ^Answers.com.
- ^Taylor Marsh, 'It's a Whole New Ballgame for Obama,' Huffington Post, 7 January 2011.
- ^Phil Wainewright, 'It's a whole 'nother ball game,' ZDNet, March 16, 2006.
External links[edit]
Look up rain check in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
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