switch-hitter

See also: switch hitter

English

Alternative forms

• switch hitter

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

switch-hitter (plural switch-hitters)

1. (baseball) A person who can bat either as a right-hander or a left-hander; an ambidextrous batter.
   • 1961, National Association of Basketball Coaches of the United States, American Football Coaches Association, Athletic Journal, volume 46, page 23:

     The average ball player can become an effective switch hitter only if he has switched hit from the time he commenced playing.

2. (cricket) A batsman who performs switch-hits.
3. (slang, sexuality) A person who has sex with both male and female sexual partners.

   Synonym: bisexual

   • 1983, Edmund White, States of Desire: Travels in Gay America, page 218:

     I met this fat, balding, bisexual 'switch-hitter'— that was his word, 'switch-hitter'— and he was my first experience."

   • 2010, Paul Bouchard, A Package at Gitmo, page 78:

     The thinking is Ralston's gay—lots of us Fifth Squadders think he's gay. […] Or maybe he's a switch-hitter, a bisexual. Who knows?

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.