baseball

[beys-bawl]

noun

1. a game of ball between two nine-player teams played usually for nine innings on a field that has as a focal point a diamond-shaped infield with a home plate and three other bases, 90 feet (27 meters) apart, forming a circuit that must be completed by a base runner in order to score, the central offensive action entailing hitting of a pitched ball with a wooden or metal bat and running of the bases, the winner being the team scoring the most runs.

2. the ball used in this game, being a sphere approximately 3 inches (7 centimeters) in diameter with a twine-covered center of cork covered by stitched horsehide.

3. Cards.,  a variety of five-card or seven-card stud poker in which nines and threes are wild and in which threes and fours dealt face up gain the player either penalties or privileges.

baseball

/ ˈbeɪsˌbɔːl /

noun

1. a team game with nine players on each side, played on a field with four bases connected to form a diamond. The object is to score runs by batting the ball and running round the bases

2. the hard rawhide-covered ball used in this game

Other Word Forms

• probaseball adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of baseball¹

First recorded in 1795–1805; base ¹ + ball ¹

Example Sentences

His vineyard is doing what it can to draw a younger—though still drinking age—crowd by adding lawn games, bringing in musicians, running tram tours and utilizing a baseball field.

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When Jackie Robinson entered the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his informational plaque didn’t mention that he had broken baseball’s color line.

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This was no less true of baseball players.

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It was real, a “two-hundred-pound tawny-haired lion with golden eyes and soft, round ears and paws the size of baseball mitts.”

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The Dodgers have advanced to baseball’s final four, losing just once in six postseason games.

Read more on Los Angeles Times