spitball
spitball Lexical Profile
spitball Game Scores & Validity
• verb
North American To suggest or toss around preliminary ideas, estimates, or possibilities in an informal, spontaneous manner without committing to their accuracy.
"The marketing team spent the afternoon spitballing potential slogans for the upcoming product launch."
North American To throw an illegal baseball pitch that has been moistened with saliva or another foreign substance.
"The umpire ejected the veteran pitcher after catching him attempting to spitball in the eighth inning."
• noun
North American A small, tightly rolled pellet of paper chewed or moistened with saliva and thrown or blown through a straw as a projectile.
"The teacher scolded the students in the back row for blowing spitballs through their drinking straws."
North American An illegal baseball pitch in which the ball is altered with saliva, sweat, or another foreign substance to make its trajectory erratic and unpredictable.
"Before the league officially banned the pitch in 1920, several major league pitchers relied heavily on the spitball."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
The figurative verb sense meaning 'to brainstorm' emerged in mid-20th-century American slang from the expression 'to throw spitballs around to see what sticks to the wall.'