English

Noun

knuckleball ‎(plural knuckleballs)

1. (baseball) A pitch thrown with the ball gripped on the fingertips and released with no rotation, which travels over an unpredictable path to the plate due to micro-turbulence in the air.

   Even the pitcher doesn't know where his knuckleball is going.

   Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield is best known for his use of the knuckleball.

2. An event that is hard to predict.

   Our vendor keeps throwing us knuckleballs.

Synonyms

• (baseball pitch): flutterball, floater, dancer, butterfly ball, ghostball, bug

Verb

knuckleball ‎(third-person singular simple present knuckleballs, present participle knuckleballing, simple past and past participle knuckleballed)

1. (intransitive, baseball) To pitch knuckleballs.
   • 2008 April 16, The Associated Press, “Tigers Rally Again to Defeat the Twins”, in New York Times:

     Varitek did not start so Kevin Cash could catch the knuckleballing starter Tim Wakefield.

Derived terms

• knuckleballer

See also