fungo
Americannoun
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(in practice sessions) a ball tossed into the air by the batter and struck as it comes down.
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a batted ball, especially a fly ball, hit in this manner.
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Also called fungo bat. a bat used in hitting fungoes, being lighter, longer, and narrower than an ordinary baseball bat.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fungo
An Americanism dating back to 1865–70; of obscure origin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After hitting against Gonsolin, Lux fielded ground balls off the fungo bat of a coach until he was huffing, puffing and sweating profusely before the game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2022
Hayes is dealing with his hand issues by making changes, experimenting with a fungo handle on his bat and a two-handed follow-through on his swing to alleviate pressure on his wrist this spring.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 28, 2022
"Most of us couldn’t stand in right field with a fungo and hit it up there," Royals manager Mike Matheny said with a shake of his head.
From Fox News ● Sep. 7, 2021
Montague used a fungo bat off the tee and drove the ball into a bunker.
From Golf Digest ● Dec. 9, 2016
The fungo batters were sending up better flies.
From Baseball Joe in the Big League or, A Young Pitcher's Hardest Struggles by Chadwick, Lester
Williams won’t be hitting fungoes or coaching third base for at least four weeks while he continues to heal.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 13, 2023
The drill was to make 27 consecutive defensive outs without an error as Rojas and Tarrasco hit fungoes.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 10, 2021
A coach stands in the shallow outfield grass and hits fungoes into the gaps and the corners, as different combinations of baserunners circle the bases.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 15, 2017
The right side of La Russa’s face was swollen for a while, although he continued to hit fungoes at practice until the last homestand.
From New York Times ● May 11, 2011
Gentle to the clumsy, girl-voiced boys whom he trained to be average, to be adequate, as he hit the soft fungoes to the outfield green.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
