home run

[ hohm ruhn ]

noun

1. Also called homer. Baseball. a hit that enables a batter, without the aid of a fielding error, to score a run by making a nonstop circuit of the bases. : h.r., hr, HR
2. a complete or unqualified success:

   trying to hit a home run at the box office.

home run

noun

1. baseball a hit that enables the batter to run round all four bases, usually by hitting the ball out of the playing area

Word History and Origins

Origin of home run¹

An Americanism first recorded in 1855–60

Idioms and Phrases

A highly successful achievement; also, doubling one's profits. For example, We scored a home run with that drug stock, buying it at 15 and selling at 30 . This expression originated in the mid-1800s in baseball, where it refers to a pitched ball batted so far that the batter can round all three bases and reach home plate, scoring a run. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.

Example Sentences

He and Aníbal Sánchez encouraged teammates to dance in the dugout after home runs.

From Washington Post

Throughout his 23-year career, he displayed remarkable consistency, smacking between 24 and 47 home runs in 19 straight seasons.

From Time

In 1974, Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s record that had been in place for 39 years.

From Essence.com

It brought to nine the number of baseball Hall of Famers who have died over the past nine months, an unfathomable loss of institutional knowledge, accumulated wins and home runs, and childhood idols for fans of a certain age.

From Washington Post

Getting aggressive with article volume and testing drives impactPublishers may have to take a lot of swings before they hit a home run with commerce content.

From Digiday

The AHA stepped up to the plate, but instead of an out-of-the-ballpark home run, it fouled out.

From The Daily Beast

Tony Perez hit a home run, and the Mets came to the bottom of the ninth behind five to three.

From The Daily Beast

Somebody said the laundry shelled out twenty-one thousand dollars in home run money that year.

From The Daily Beast

But Tom Jones somehow hit a home run with Spirit in the Room.

From The Daily Beast

With this particular audience, Cruz arguably hit a home run.

From The Daily Beast

Once everybody in the park shouted and stood up and Peter said it was a home run, but Pat gave very little heed to this.

From Project Gutenberg

He couldn't be burdened with learning about hits and errors or even the thing called a home run.

From Project Gutenberg

The next man up hit one squarely on the nose and boosted it over the fence for a home run.

From Project Gutenberg

You knocked a home run that first day of school, and you can do it again.

From Project Gutenberg

Don't you remember that home run he knocked the first day of school?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• center
• dead center
• omphalos