grand slamn.adj.
/ˌɡrand ˈslam/, U.S. /ˌɡræn(d) ˈslæm/ A. n.
1.
a. Cards. The winning of all the tricks of one hand in a card game; esp. a contract to win all thirteen tricks in bridge. Also in to make (a) grand slam. See slam n.2 2b.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > [noun] > actions or tactics > winning or losing points or tricks
trick1607
rub1613
slam1660
vole1680
sans prendre1728
grand slam1800
single1850
1800 Sporting Mag. 16 186/2 Rules for the Game of Cards called Boston... The highest [declaration] is Grand Slam, that is, undertaking to get the thirteen tricks.
1840 T. S. Fay Countess Ida I. xv. 119 Digby, of course, had lost. Their adversaries had made ‘grand slam’.
1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 14 May 3/1 In two of the ‘hands’ to be played the ‘grand slam’ is won.
1919 D. Cooper Diary 23 Jan. (2005) 92 My partner had the knaves of Spades and Diamonds and I made grand slam.
1928 Daily Express 21 May 3/7 Jack, with a pitying smile for Sam's heroic flag-flying, doubled—and Sam made a grand slam.
1958 Listener 23 Oct. 669/2 For me, the Queen of trumps never drops in a grand slam.
1993 Bridge Nov. 9/2 This is one of those rare hands where it is actually pointless to bid a grand slam.
2014 Daily News (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 27 May 7 West found himself in a bridge player's dreamland—on lead against a grand slam holding two aces!
b. In extended use: a complete series of victories; an unbroken run of success; spec. victory in all of a series of matches or competitions.
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the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > [noun] > ultimate success or victory > complete
checkmate1520
grand slam1905
game, set, and match1968
the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > [noun] > one who or that which is successful > that which is successful > series of successes
string1890
hat trick1899
grand slam1905
1905 S. Tyler Japan-Russia War xv. 432 Her adversary had already won the odd-trick, and the only doubt that remained to be solved was how near she would get to making grand slam.
1920 D. H. Lawrence Let. 5 Feb. (1962) I. 619 I feel that this is the time to make our grand-slam. I feel that we have stuck together through so much disappointment—now we ought to unite and make a success all together.
1930 Beatrice (Nebraska) Daily Sun 28 Sept. 8/1 Thereby completing his unparalleled ‘grand slam’ in golf for 1930.
1932 Mich. Alumnus 21 May 593/1 The Buckeyes scored a grand slam in the [tennis] doubles to gain their victory.
1938 Sporting News 13 Oct. 3 Grand Slam Gives Yankees 24 Wins in 27 Series Games.
1952 Boys' Life June 15/2 Making a clean sweep of the ‘title grand slam’, something no archer had ever accomplished before.
1961 ‘W. Cooper’ Scenes Married Life 84 Only a grand slam..of scholarships and grants enabled a boy to go up to Oxford without some other source of money.
1966 D. F. Galouye Lost Perception viii. 86 We're going to try for a grand slam—knock them all out at once with nuclear stuff the next time we pin down their locations.
1976 Sc. Daily Express 24 Dec. 14/1 We are the Home International champions after a Grand Slam of victories against England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
1980 B. B. Clopton Her Honor, Judge 47 Miss Beck's assertive students in debate and oratory made a grand slam in the competition at the University of Utah.
1996 L. Williams After Hunt iii. 79 As applied to turkey hunting, you have made a grand slam when you take the four subspecies of wild turkey that occur in the U.S.
2007 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 11 Apr. (Sports Final ed.) 25 Even before this political grand slam, Cuomo's first 100 days had gone remarkably well.
c. Usually with capital initials. A set of major championships or matches in a particular sport in the same year, particularly in tennis, golf, or rugby union. Also: any of the individual championships that comprise a Grand Slam.A proprietary name in the United Kingdom when used with reference to tennis tournaments; also a proprietary name in the United States for various specific international tennis tournaments.
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society > leisure > sport > match or competition > [noun] > set or series, considered as an achievement
triple crown1897
slam1934
grand slam1948
treble1959
1948 H. W. Wind Amer. Golf 285 The Open at Interlachen, the third leg of the Grand Slam.
1960 C. Middlecoff Master Guide to Golf p. xi Robert T. Jones, Jr., the immortal Grand Slam Champion.
1965 M. Smith Court & D. Lawrence Margaret Smith Story iii. 47 As the French title was one of the Grand Slam tournaments, I was particularly anxious to win it.
1978 Financial Times 21 Jan. 5/8 It took..Bjorn Borg only 75 minutes to beat the world's No. 4..in the first semi-final of the $250,000 Pepsi-Cola Grand Slam.
1991 Sc. Rugby Feb. 49/3 Who kicked three penalties for Scotland in the Grand Slam game against England last season?
2006 Daily Mirror (Nexis) 11 Apr. (Sport section) 60 They're now calling Masters hero Phil Mickelson the best player never to have won a Grand Slam.
2012 Tennishead Apr. 125/4 Winning seven matches on the bounce to claim his fifth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
2. Chiefly Military. An all-out attack. Now somewhat rare.Quot. 1916 refers to the after-effects of a ramming by an enemy ship, and it is uncertain whether the primary sense is that of an all-out attack or of a violent collision.
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society > armed hostility > attack > [noun]
fiend-reseOE
frumresec1275
assault1297
sault1297
inracea1300
sailing13..
venuea1330
checkc1330
braid1340
affrayc1380
outrunningc1384
resinga1387
wara1387
riota1393
assailc1400
assayc1400
onset1423
rake?a1425
pursuitc1425
assemblinga1450
brunta1450
oncominga1450
assembly1487
envaya1500
oncomea1500
shovea1500
front1523
scry1523
attemptate1524
assaulting1548
push1565
brash1573
attempt1584
affront?1587
pulse1587
affret1590
saliaunce1590
invasion1591
assailment1592
insultation1596
aggressa1611
onslaught1613
source1616
confronta1626
impulsion1631
tentative1632
essaya1641
infall1645
attack1655
stroke1698
insult1710
coup de main1759
onfall1837
hurrah1841
beat-up of quarters1870
offensive1887
strafe1915
grand slam1916
hop-over1918
run1941
strike1942
1916 R. Kipling in N.Y. Times 22 Oct. 4/1 That grand slam had wrecked the bridge, pinning the commander under the wreckage.
1933 F. Richards Old Soldiers never Die ix. 123 Dawn broke..and we were anxiously waiting for the time when the Grand Slam commenced.
1965 H. M. Cole U.S. Army in World War II: Ardennes: Battle of Bulge ii. 20/2 They moved to a meeting [which] would be known to the German staffs as the ‘Grand Slam’ (the American commanders were not the only military bridge players).
2002 M. Ayub An Army vii. 91 The intention was to pull General Malik out soon after the Grand Slam began.
3. Baseball.
a. A home run. Now rare.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > baseball > [noun] > base-playing or running > types of run
home run1856
tally1856
steal1867
homer1868
round trip1895
double steal1897
round-tripper1908
stroll1908
grand slam1920
dinger1968
1920 B. Ruth in Atlanta Constit. 20 Aug. 9/5 In less than two full seasons, 1919 and 1920, my grand slams mount up to seventy.
1939 Evening Independent (Massillon, Ohio) 18 Dec. 12/7 The Rupert Power House Gang sailed 166 homers out of sight in 1939... This was off from their performance of the year before, however, since their 1938 tally was 174 grand slams.
b. spec. A home run hit when each of the three bases is occupied by a runner, resulting in four runs being scored. Also more fully grand slam home run, grand slam homer.
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1929 N.Y. Times 27 May 29/1 Each manager..picked a pinch-hitter who delivered a home run with the bases filled. One pinch-hitter thus producing what is known in baseball as a grand slam is enough to make a ball game momentous.
1930 Wichita Daily Times (Wichita Falls, Texas) 11 June 12/5 Grant Dunlap's grand slam homer in the ninth inning squared the series.
1967 Boston Sunday Herald 30 Apr. 1. 8/2 (advt.) It's as exciting as a ninth inning grand-slam!
1978 Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. e3/1 The Pirates finally put it together and broke a five-game skid with a little help from a pair of homers from Bill Robinson, one a grand slam.
2013 Washington Post (Nexis) 20 Oct. (Sports section) d4 [His]..seventh-inning grand slam home run won Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.
B. adj.
Complete, all-out; forceful, powerful, sweeping. Also hyphenated.
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the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adjective] > utter or absolute
shirea1225
purec1300
properc1380
plainc1395
cleana1400
fine?a1400
entirec1400
veryc1400
starka1425
utterc1430
utterlyc1440
merec1443
absolute1531
outright1532
cleara1535
bloodyc1540
unproachable1544
flat1553
downright1577
sheer1583
right-down?1586
single1590
peremptory1601
perfecta1616
downa1625
implicit1625
every way1628
blank1637
out-and-outa1642
errant1644
inaccessional1651
thorough-paced1651
even down1654
dead1660
double-dyed1667
through stitch1681
through-stitched1682
total1702
thoroughgoing1719
thorough-sped1730
regular1740
plumb1748
hollow1751
unextenuated1765
unmitigated1783
stick, stock, stone dead1796
positive1802
rank1809
heart-whole1823
skire1825
solid1830
fair1835
teetotal1840
bodacious1845
raw1856
literal1857
resounding1873
roaring1884
all out1893
fucking1893
pink1896
twenty-four carat1900
grand slam1915
stone1928
diabolical1933
fricking1937
righteous1940
fecking1952
raving1954
1915 Good Housek. Mag. Aug. 144/2 They exuberantly pulled French crackers and paired off, according to the matching of silk tissue-paper caps, for a grand-slam march.
1946 Boys' Life May 10/2 Once more Rose and Holland will seek a one-two grand slam win.
1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 May 322/5 Churchillian impetuosity and grand-slam rashness.
1963 Times 7 Mar. 8/3 The most persuasive argument for retaining Checkmate in the Royal Ballet's repertory..is the opportunity for grand slam acting it offers to its protagonist.
1997 P. Delaforce Monty's Highlanders xxvii. 135 Two days later Monty unleashed another grand slam attack on Caen with support from 600 guns.
2013 J. Hart Man versus Ball viii. 132 I expect a Grand Slam speech with loads of stadium nostalgia. I get anything but.
Phrases
to go grand slam v. now rare to go all-out.
ΚΠ
1890 Grip (Toronto) 6 Sept. 149/2 Suppose I promise to go ‘grand slam’, and make you Kaiser of all Africa? That will about clinch the business, I guess?
1908 L. Merrick Lynch's Daughter xvii. 228 Isn't that tall talk rather rats, considering? You're going grand slam on ‘the nation's blood’ yourself, you know!
1922 O. Sitwell in Chapbook 29 20 The whole Squirearchy will go Grand Slam By praise to make him, or, by silence, damn.
1969 Motor 8 Nov. 22/2 Our car went grand slam with the full XLR treatment for £81.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1800