pinch-hit

[pinch-hit]

See more synonyms for pinch-hit on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object), pinch-hit, pinch-hit·ting.

Baseball. to serve as a pinch hitter.
Informal. to substitute for someone, especially in an emergency.

verb (used with object), pinch-hit, pinch-hit·ting.

Baseball. to get, or make (a hit) in pinch-hitting.

Origin of pinch-hit

1930–35, Americanism; back formation from pinch hitter

pinch hit

noun Baseball.

a hit made by a pinch hitter.

Origin of pinch hit

First recorded in 1910–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for pinch-hit

alternate, change, commute, deputize, displace, proxy, relieve, replace, spell, sub, supersede, supplant, supply, swap, switch

Examples from the Web for pinch-hit

Contemporary Examples of pinch-hit

Ed Kranepool pinch-hit a gentle single; and then Willie Mays was up.
Murray Kempton on The Homecoming of Willie Mays
Murray Kempton
March 31, 2014
In the top of the ninth inning, in his last appearance in professional baseball, he was sent in to pinch-hit for Zachary.
Babe Ruth’s Summer of Records
Bill Bryson
September 29, 2013

Historical Examples of pinch-hit

Muikstra ku sa mga draybir nga nasakit, I pinch-hit for drivers who are sick.
A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan
John U. Wolff

British Dictionary definitions for pinch-hit

pinch-hit

verb -hits, -hitting or -hit (intr)

baseball to bat as a substitute for the scheduled batter
US and Canadian informal to act as a substitute
cricket (of a batsman in a limited-overs match) to bat aggressively at the start of an innings in order to take advantage of fielding restrictions

Derived Formspinch hitter, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012