lob balln.
/ˈlɒb bɔːl/, U.S. /ˈlɑb ˌbɔl/, /ˈlɑb ˌbɑl/, Canadian English /ˈlɒb ˌbɒl/ 1.
a. Cricket. A slow underarm ball with a high looping trajectory. Now rare. Cf. lob n.5 1.Lob balls have been largely unknown in Cricket since the early 20th cent. and are now illegal unless the teams agree in advance that underarm bowling will be permitted in the match.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > [noun] > a ball bowled > types of delivery or ball
full toss1826
long hop1830
twister1832
bail ball1833
bailer1833
grubber1837
slow ball1838
wide1838
ground ball1839
shooter1843
slower ball1846
twiddler1847
creeper1848
lob1851
sneak1851
sneaker1851
slow1854
bumper1855
teaser1856
daisy-cutter1857
popper1857
yorker1861
sharpshooter1863
headball1866
screwball1866
underhand1866
skimmerc1868
grub1870
ramrod1870
raymonder1870
round-armer1871
grass cutter1876
short pitch1877
leg break1878
lob ball1880
off-break1883
donkey-drop1888
tice1888
fast break1889
leg-breaker1892
kicker1894
spinner1895
wrong 'un1897
googly1903
fizzer1904
dolly1906
short ball1911
wrong 'un1911
bosie1912
bouncer1913
flyer1913
percher1913
finger-spinner1920
inswinger1920
outswinger1920
swinger1920
off-spinner1924
away swinger1925
Chinaman1929
overspinner1930
tweaker1938
riser1944
leg-cutter1949
seamer1952
leggy1954
off-cutter1955
squatter1955
flipper1959
lifter1959
cutter1960
beamer1961
loosener1962
doosra1999
1880 Daily News 24 July 6/5 Midwinter gave way to Mr. Townsend at 72, and from the third lob ball Mr. Hornby was out leg before wicket for 9.
1939 Evening Tel. & Post (Dundee) 24 June 8/6 The industry was started..in the days when side-whiskered cricketers went out to rough wickets wearing top hats.., and hit prodigious scores off lob balls.
b. Baseball. A slow pitch with a high arc. Cf. eephus n. 2.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > baseball > [noun] > pitching > types of pitch
change of pace1650
slow ball1838
passed ball1860
ball1863
rib roaster1864
called ball1865
low ball1866
wild pitch1867
curveball1875
short pitch1877
grass cutter1879
fastball1883
downshoot1886
lob ball1888
pitchout1903
bean ballc1905
spitball1905
screwball1908
spitter1908
sinker ball1910
fallaway1912
meatball1912
fireball1913
roundhouse1913
forkball1923
sinker1926
knuckle ball1927
knuckler1928
gofer1932
slider1936
sailer1937
junk1941
change up1942
eephus1943
junkball1944
split-finger(ed) fastball1980
change1982
1888 Daily Whig (Kingston, Canada) 27 July 8/3 In the seventh Hewer went behind the bat and lob balls were thrown.
1901 Courier & Freeman (Potsdam, N.Y.) 24 July Ambrose, who occupied the box for Ogdensburg, used a lob ball throughout.
2007 Lincoln (Nebraska) Jrnl. Star (Nexis) 22 July d2 It's a lob ball to catch the batter off-guard.
c. Tennis. A ball hit high into the air so as to fall at the back of the opponent's court. Cf. lob n.5 2.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > racket games > lawn tennis > [noun] > types of stroke
service1611
serving1688
screw1865
cut1874
cutting service1874
boast1878
first serve1878
smash1882
twister1884
cross-shot1889
lob1890
ground stroke1895
lob ball1900
twist service1901
boasting1902
cross-volley1905
get1911
chop1913
forehander1922
kick serve1925
forehand1934
touch shot1936
dink1939
net shot1961
overhead1964
groundie1967
slice1969
moonball1975
moonballing1977
1900 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 10 Aug. 10/5 The Englishmen were quick to copy the lob ball, but Davis was usually at the net to receive and kill the lob.
2018 Evening Sun (Hanover, Pa.) (Nexis) 7 Oct. (Sports section) b4 She had some great shots, but I just tried to get some of those lob balls in to give myself some time to catch my breath and gather myself for the next ball that she was going to put away.
2. North American. A variety of the game of softball, featuring underarm pitching that must travel in an arc between 6 and 12 feet in height before landing on the ground by the batter; = slow-pitch n.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > baseball > games similar to baseball > [noun]
baseball1748
pat-ball1775
town ball1813
stickball1824
rounders1828
roundball1834
feeder1844
one-old-cat1856
softball1867
one-eyed cat1908
vigoroc1930
slow-pitch1934
fast-pitch1939
stoop ball1941
fastball1943
lob ball1949
whiffle-ball1954
Wiffle ball1955
T-ball1962
1949 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times 23 June 20/4 Moss held Foremost Dairies to four hits, unusual in the lob-ball Fraternal League, to pitch Amvets to a 7-4 victory last night.
2018 Arnprior (Canada) Chronicle-Guide (Nexis) 19 Apr. (Final ed.) (Sports section) 1 A men's pickup league plays at McLean Park on Tuesday nights... Lob ball is on Sundays.
3. Chiefly Canadian and in political contexts. A question that is easy to answer, esp. one that is asked in order to make the respondent look competent, articulate, etc. Cf. softball question n. at softball n. Compounds 2.Recorded earliest as a modifier.
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the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > [noun] > act or instance of > easy to answer
softball question1974
lob ball1982
1982 G. Spence & A. Polk Gerry Spence xii. 166 I threw the doctor lob ball questions but often he wouldn't even take a swing.
2019 Calgary (Alberta) Sun (Nexis) 5 Sept. a39 The first two questions are lob balls where Minhaj asks Trudeau to finish sentences about Tim Hortons and Kawhi Leonard, where the pair engage in friendly banter.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1880