"slowball" meaning in English

See slowball in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: slowballs [plural]
Etymology: slow + ball Etymology templates: {{compound|en|slow|ball}} slow + ball Head templates: {{en-noun}} slowball (plural slowballs)
  1. (baseball) A pitch that is not a fastball or curveball; often a change-up. Categories (topical): Baseball
    Sense id: en-slowball-en-noun-HR-I9fwb Topics: ball-games, baseball, games, hobbies, lifestyle, sports
  2. Steady, cautionary behavior as a delaying tactic.
    Sense id: en-slowball-en-noun-WxSdEYnE Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 19 52 1 20 9
  3. An easy or obvious target.
    Sense id: en-slowball-en-noun-hJD2KRFB

Verb

Forms: slowballs [present, singular, third-person], slowballing [participle, present], slowballed [participle, past], slowballed [past]
Etymology: slow + ball Etymology templates: {{compound|en|slow|ball}} slow + ball Head templates: {{en-verb}} slowball (third-person singular simple present slowballs, present participle slowballing, simple past and past participle slowballed)
  1. (baseball) To pitch a slowball. Categories (topical): Baseball
    Sense id: en-slowball-en-verb-FsIUiO7o Topics: ball-games, baseball, games, hobbies, lifestyle, sports
  2. To delay something for personal advantage.
    Sense id: en-slowball-en-verb-HaCVJOui
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: slow-walk

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for slowball meaning in English (5.2kB)

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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "slow",
        "3": "ball"
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      "expansion": "slow + ball",
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  "etymology_text": "slow + ball",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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        {
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          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Baseball",
          "orig": "en:Baseball",
          "parents": [
            "Ball games",
            "Sports",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A pitch that is not a fastball or curveball; often a change-up."
      ],
      "id": "en-slowball-en-noun-HR-I9fwb",
      "links": [
        [
          "baseball",
          "baseball"
        ],
        [
          "pitch",
          "pitch"
        ],
        [
          "fastball",
          "fastball"
        ],
        [
          "curveball",
          "curveball"
        ],
        [
          "change-up",
          "change-up"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(baseball) A pitch that is not a fastball or curveball; often a change-up."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "ball-games",
        "baseball",
        "games",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
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      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "19 52 1 20 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007 July 1, Jim Rutenberg, “Bush to Urge Putin to Aid in Pressuring Iran”, in New York Times",
          "text": "“We imagine that the Russians and the Chinese are going to play slowball here,” said a senior official involved in the sanctions talks.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 July 2, Deena Winter, “AG to Google: Clean up YouTube”, in Nebraska Watchdog, archived from the original on 2016-03-05",
          "text": "But he says the company is dragging its feet and threatened to use his subpoena power to get them moving. “They’re trying to play slowball,” he said of Google.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 May 9, Giles Mole, “Ulster v Leinster, Heineken Cup final”, in The Daily Telegraph",
          "text": "Dave Kearney then says he's had enough of the slow-ball tactics and bursts through a couple of tackles.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Steady, cautionary behavior as a delaying tactic."
      ],
      "id": "en-slowball-en-noun-WxSdEYnE"
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1998, Mark Alan Stewart, Frederick J. O'Toole, Arco's Teach Yourself to Beat the GRE in 24 Hours, Arco",
          "text": "Remember: In work problems, use your common sense to narrow down answer choices! Now we're going to throw a \"slowball\" at you.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Tom Cavenagh, A Matter of Truth, iUniverse, page 150",
          "text": "The interviewer nodded sympathetically. “Why do you think he would react so harshly?” A slowball question he hoped she would knock out of the park from a pro-abortion perspective.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, James Wittenbach, Worlds Apart Book 10: Eventide, Booktango",
          "text": "The opening for a milk-beast related play on the name Lady Angus was a nice hanging slowball, but Keeler bit his tongue.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An easy or obvious target."
      ],
      "id": "en-slowball-en-noun-hJD2KRFB"
    }
  ],
  "word": "slowball"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "slow",
        "3": "ball"
      },
      "expansion": "slow + ball",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "slow + ball",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "slowballs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "slowballing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "slowballed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "slowballed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "slow-walk"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Baseball",
          "orig": "en:Baseball",
          "parents": [
            "Ball games",
            "Sports",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To pitch a slowball."
      ],
      "id": "en-slowball-en-verb-FsIUiO7o",
      "links": [
        [
          "baseball",
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(baseball) To pitch a slowball."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "ball-games",
        "baseball",
        "games",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
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      "categories": [],
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        {
          "ref": "1965, United States, Congress, United States. Congress. Joint Economic Committee, Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Joint Economic Committee",
          "text": "A prolonged study is frequently a method of slowballing an investigation until the Senators or Congress who are interested pass from the political scene.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996, Tae-Hwan Kwak, Edward A. Olsen, The Major Powers of Northeast Asia: Seeking Peace and Security, Lynne Rienner Publishers, page 170",
          "text": "As one senior U.S. military observer stated: \"They are stonewalling us and slowballing us.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, J. DAVID BUTLER, THE WATER BALL: A story of faith and enduring love, Xlibris Corporation",
          "text": "And if some guy is dipping into the funds or taking bribes or slowballing things, those people should be exposed.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To delay something for personal advantage."
      ],
      "id": "en-slowball-en-verb-HaCVJOui"
    }
  ],
  "word": "slowball"
}
{
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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  "etymology_text": "slow + ball",
  "forms": [
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      "tags": [
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  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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      ],
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        "A pitch that is not a fastball or curveball; often a change-up."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "baseball",
          "baseball"
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          "pitch",
          "pitch"
        ],
        [
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        ],
        [
          "curveball",
          "curveball"
        ],
        [
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          "change-up"
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(baseball) A pitch that is not a fastball or curveball; often a change-up."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "ball-games",
        "baseball",
        "games",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007 July 1, Jim Rutenberg, “Bush to Urge Putin to Aid in Pressuring Iran”, in New York Times",
          "text": "“We imagine that the Russians and the Chinese are going to play slowball here,” said a senior official involved in the sanctions talks.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 July 2, Deena Winter, “AG to Google: Clean up YouTube”, in Nebraska Watchdog, archived from the original on 2016-03-05",
          "text": "But he says the company is dragging its feet and threatened to use his subpoena power to get them moving. “They’re trying to play slowball,” he said of Google.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 May 9, Giles Mole, “Ulster v Leinster, Heineken Cup final”, in The Daily Telegraph",
          "text": "Dave Kearney then says he's had enough of the slow-ball tactics and bursts through a couple of tackles.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Steady, cautionary behavior as a delaying tactic."
      ]
    },
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1998, Mark Alan Stewart, Frederick J. O'Toole, Arco's Teach Yourself to Beat the GRE in 24 Hours, Arco",
          "text": "Remember: In work problems, use your common sense to narrow down answer choices! Now we're going to throw a \"slowball\" at you.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Tom Cavenagh, A Matter of Truth, iUniverse, page 150",
          "text": "The interviewer nodded sympathetically. “Why do you think he would react so harshly?” A slowball question he hoped she would knock out of the park from a pro-abortion perspective.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, James Wittenbach, Worlds Apart Book 10: Eventide, Booktango",
          "text": "The opening for a milk-beast related play on the name Lady Angus was a nice hanging slowball, but Keeler bit his tongue.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An easy or obvious target."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "slowball"
}

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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
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  "etymology_text": "slow + ball",
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      "form": "slowballs",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "form": "slowballing",
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    },
    {
      "form": "slowballed",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "slow-walk"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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      "glosses": [
        "To pitch a slowball."
      ],
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        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(baseball) To pitch a slowball."
      ],
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        "ball-games",
        "baseball",
        "games",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
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        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1965, United States, Congress, United States. Congress. Joint Economic Committee, Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Joint Economic Committee",
          "text": "A prolonged study is frequently a method of slowballing an investigation until the Senators or Congress who are interested pass from the political scene.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996, Tae-Hwan Kwak, Edward A. Olsen, The Major Powers of Northeast Asia: Seeking Peace and Security, Lynne Rienner Publishers, page 170",
          "text": "As one senior U.S. military observer stated: \"They are stonewalling us and slowballing us.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, J. DAVID BUTLER, THE WATER BALL: A story of faith and enduring love, Xlibris Corporation",
          "text": "And if some guy is dipping into the funds or taking bribes or slowballing things, those people should be exposed.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To delay something for personal advantage."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "slowball"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.