switch-hitter

See also: switch hitter

English

Alternative forms

• switch hitter

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

switch-hitter (plural switch-hitters)

1. (baseball) A person who can bat either as a right-hander or a left-hander.
   • 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. (idiomatic, colloquial, sexuality) A person who has sex with both male and female sexual partners.
   • 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."

Synonyms

• (person who bats right- and left-handed) ambidextrous hitter
• (person who has sex with both males and females) bisexual

References

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