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pinch hitter
noun
- Baseball. a substitute who bats for a teammate, often at a critical moment of the game.
- any substitute for another, especially in an emergency.
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Word History and Origins
Origin of pinch hitter1
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Idioms and Phrases
A substitute for another person, especially in an emergency. For example, Pat expected her mother to help with the baby, but just in case, she lined up her mother-in-law as pinch hitter . This expression comes from baseball, where it is used for a player substituting for another at bat at a critical point or in a tight situation (called a pinch since the late 1400s). [Late 1800s]Discover More
Example Sentences
A pinch hitter named Pickle Smith was announced for Jacksonville.
With the score five to seven against them, Roxley put in a pinch hitter by the name of Bixby.
A pinch hitter was up next, and amid a breathless silence he was watched.
McRae was no longer content to use Joe simply as a pinch hitter.
No clubs would be clamoring for his services as a pinch hitter.
Don't be afraid to put me in as a pinch hitter for this organization.
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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.
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