spit·ball

(spĭt′bôl′)

1. A piece of paper chewed and shaped into a lump for use as a projectile.

2. Baseball An illegal pitch in which a foreign substance, such as saliva, is applied to the ball before it is thrown. Also called spitter.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

spitball

(ˈspɪtˌbɔːl)

1. school slang a small missile made from chewed paper

2. (Baseball) baseball a ball which has been moistened with saliva prior to pitching

vb (intr)

to make suggestions

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

spit•ball

(ˈspɪtˌbɔl)

n.

1. a small lump of chewed paper used as a missile.

2. a baseball pitch, now illegal, made to curve by moistening the ball with saliva or another lubricant.

[1840–50, Amer.]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	spitball - a projectile made by chewing a piece of paper and shaping it into a sphere projectile, missile - a weapon that is forcibly thrown or projected at a targets but is not self-propelled
	2.	spitball - an illegal pitch in which a foreign substance (spit or Vaseline) is applied to the ball by the pitcher before he throws it spitter pitch, delivery - (baseball) the act of throwing a baseball by a pitcher to a batter

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References in periodicals archive

Henry Dennett Ron Rifkin Claire/Salome Blackwood Beth Dixon Jessica Ilana Levine Adam Bruce Norris Peter/Jason Elmore Reg Flowers Guy Halperin Michael Winters Maurice Montesor Daniel Davis Duncan Hyde-Berk/Leibowitz Tom Riis Farrell Miranda Cortland-Sparks Jody Gelb Ariel Anne Dudek Winifred Hill/Anne Mary Schmidtberger Clifford Pike/Stevens Daniel Jenkins Weird is the word for "Wrong Mountain," a pompous spitball of a play aimed squarely at the eye of its audience.

WRONG MOUNTAIN

Every spitball, every chattering student, every bit of graffiti was noted.

Why Johnny can't fail: how the "floating standard" has destroyed public education

The spitball used to be legal and one game would consume maybe three or four grimy baseballs.

Baseball's "100 Greatest Players"--Sez Who?

Restlessness was already apparent in the behavior of Gillespie, whose famous scuffle with his boss, Cab Calloway, in 1941, over a spitball fired by another trumpeter was just the climax to mounting tension between the established bandleader and the young rebel over his detonation of unorthodox solos during showtime.

The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History

(5) Major league baseball's institutional banishing of the spitball and other deviously treacherous pitches were probably most important to depressed strikeout ratios, as was the practice after the tragic hit-by-pitch death of Ray Chapman in 1920 of umpires ensuring that baseballs were removed from the game when grass and dirt stains made them too difficult to see.

Dazzling Dazzy Vance in the "K-Zone"

Red Faber: A Biography of the Hall of Fame Spitball Pitcher.

Red Faber: A Biography of the Hall of Fame Spitball Pitcher

Of course some used slippery elm to throw a spitball, Stanley Coveleski used it, which was perfectly legit.

Smoky Joe Wood's last interview

Or when a middle-aged man is going to be shot out of a water slide like a spitball.

Heat is on at Amazon

Eddie and Steve have a spitball contest, while Greg and Zach are throwing paper out the windows at cars, Fs no doubt.

Drive a mile in my shoes!

Just before the puck got to Pelletier, it dropped like a spitball and went under his blocker.

Major scramble for playoff spots; Eight teams vie for last two places