slam dunk


Origin:
1975–80

slam dunker, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged

slam-dunk

[slam-duhngk]
verb (used with object)
Basketball. to dunk (the ball) with great force.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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00:10
Slam dunk is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
Collins
World English Dictionary
slam dunk
 
n
1.  basketball a scoring shot in which a player jumps up and forces the ball down through the basket
2.  informal a task so easy that success in it is deemed a certainty
 
vb
3.  basketball to jump up and force (a ball) through a basket

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Slang Dictionary

slam dunk definition


  1. tv. & in.
    to force a basketball into the basket from above. (See also jam.) : Wilbur slam dunked another one, raising the score from 108 to 110.
  2. n.
    an act of making a basket as in sense 1. : Another slam dunk and Wilbur ties the score again!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

slam dunk

A forceful, dramatic move, as in That indictment was a slam dunk if ever there was one. This expression is also often put as a verb, slam-dunk, meaning "make a forceful move against someone," as in This is a great chance for us to slam-dunk the opposition. The idiom comes from basketball, where it refers to a dramatic shot in which the ball is thrust into the basket from above the rim. It was transferred to other activities from about 1980 on.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Example sentences
In fact, you would have thought this small business bill would have been a slam
  dunk.
How you got involved in this whole thing was with the aim to slam dunk it.
But even more important than the hominid bones was the slam dunk evidence for
  the ecological context the creature had inhabited.
It's the same elation that follows a game-winning goal or a buzzer-beating slam
  dunk.
Image for slam dunk
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