Definition

1. Noun:
   • An illegal pitch in baseball: A "spitball" is a pitch where the pitcher illegally applies a foreign substance, such as saliva or petroleum jelly, to the baseball to alter its flight.
   • A makeshift projectile: A "spitball" is a small, wet ball of chewed paper, historically used as a projectile, often by schoolchildren.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Illegal Pitch):

  • The pitcher was ejected from the game for throwing a spitball.
  • Throwing a spitball is against the official rules of baseball.

• Noun (Paper Projectile):

  • The student got in trouble for shooting a spitball across the classroom with a straw.
  • We used to make spitballs and flick them at each other when the teacher wasn't looking.

Advanced Usage

• "to spitball ideas" (Informal Idiom): To brainstorm or suggest ideas in a free-form, speculative, and often preliminary manner.
  • Let's just spitball some concepts for the new ad campaign before the formal meeting.
  • We were spitballing possible solutions to the problem.

Variants and Related Words

• Spitballer (Noun): A pitcher who is known for throwing spitballs.
  • He was a notorious spitballer in the early days of the league.

Synonyms

• For the illegal pitch: Doctored ball, emery ball (a related illegal pitch where the ball is scuffed with an emery board).
• For the paper projectile: Paper wad.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Idioms

• Spitballing (Gerund/Verb form from the idiom): The act of brainstorming ideas informally.
  • Spitballing is a useful first step in the creative process.

Noun

1. an illegal pitch in which a foreign substance (spit or Vaseline) is applied to the ball by the pitcher before he throws it
2. a projectile made by chewing a piece of paper and shaping it into a sphere