long ball

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: longball

English

[edit]
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Noun

[edit]

long ball (plural long balls)

  1. (soccer) A kick in which the ball is kicked over the heads of other players into an empty space, into which an attacker is moving.
    • 2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC[1]:
      Welsh nerves continued to jangle as Blake let a long ball bounce over his head and only Wayne Hennessey's swift advance from his line prevented Mirko Vucinic sneaking in.
  2. (soccer, usually attributive) A strategy focused on sending the ball upfield directly to the striker, especially one with few other tactical innovations.
    • 2013 October 24, Alex Ferguson, ALEX FERGUSON: My Autobiography: The Sensational Million Copy Number One Bestseller, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
      In the first group game, they played long ball against Sweden, who knew the English game, and so were hardly likely to be caught off-guard by direct play.
    • 2018 July 15, Cathleen Small, Soccer, Gareth Stevens Publishing LLLP, →ISBN:
      Sometimes, a team will use a long-ball strategy to move the ball. In this strategy, a defender will kick the ball in a long pass, far up the field, to the striker or other forward.
    • 2022 October 27, Paul Hayward, England Football: The Biography: 1872 - 2022, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
      Graham Taylor, usually cast as a regressive long-ball manager, understood the error.
  3. (baseball) A home run
    • 2007, Gary Gillette, Pete Palmer, The 2007 Espn Baseball Encyclopedia, 4th edition, Sterling Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 1038:
      In the 1970s Seaver knew that batters could connect for a long ball at almost any time, so he had to be able to reach back and strike a hitter out if necessary.
  4. (basketball) A three-point shot.
    • 2011, Chris Herren, Bill Reynolds, Basketball Junkie: A Memoir[2], Macmillan, →ISBN:
      He could run a team, tough as nails, shoot the long ball; he had great instincts and feel for the game.

Synonyms

[edit]

Translations

[edit]