lowballv.
/ˈləʊbɔːl/, U.S. /ˈloʊˌbɔl/, /ˈloʊˌbɑl/ Chiefly North American.
1. transitive. Baseball. Usually hyphenated. To pitch low balls to (an opposing team or batter). See low ball n. 1. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1917 N.Y. Tribune 2 Oct. 13/6 Williams was low-balling the Yanks..while Faber used some of his justly celebrated speed and a few of his not so celebrated curves.
1926 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 5 Oct. 28/5 He low-balled those Yanks to a fare-you-well. I don't think he tossed one ball that was over waist high.
1948 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 20 July 14/1 They are low balling Joe DiMaggio to death.
1961 Washington Post 29 May a15/1 This enraged Sisler, who low-balled Versalles and Lennie Green into easy outs.
2. Business (originally U.S.).
a. transitive. To offer a deceptively or unrealistically low price, estimate, bid, etc., to. Cf. low ball n. 2, lowballing n.
ΚΠ
1966 Pop. Mech. Jan. 218/2 We rarely ‘lowballed’ shoppers and never ‘bushed’ a buyer by charging a higher price than agreed on.
1971 Washington Post 27 Feb. b2 Cherry attracted customers to his prosperous business by ‘lowballing’ them—offering low prices that concealed supplementary charges.
1991 Connecticut May 93 Are you being lowballed by someone who hopes to make money on extras later?
2011 J. Benson Big City Cowboy 132 Why wouldn't he want to tell her how he'd stood up to a Fortune 500 CEO who wanted to low-ball him, and negotiated a sweet contract?
b. transitive. To offer (an excessively low price, estimate, etc.); (more generally) to underestimate, undervalue.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > evaluation, estimation, appraisal > appraise, estimate [verb (transitive)]
talec897
ween971
takec1175
weigha1200
deem?c1225
judge?c1225
guessc1330
reta1382
accounta1387
aretc1386
assize1393
consider1398
ponder?a1400
adjudgec1440
reckonc1440
peisec1460
ponderate?a1475
poisea1483
trutinate1528
steem1535
rate?1555
sense1564
compute1604
censure1605
cast1606
cense1606
estimate1651
audit1655
state1671
balance1692
esteem1711
appraise1823
figure1854
tally1860
revalue1894
lowball1973
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > treat fraudulently, cheat [verb (transitive)] > dispose of fraudulently > by deceiving someone
to fob off1600
foist1602
smooth1680
sham1682
palm1822
shab1840
lowball1973
1973 N.Y. Times 24 Mar. 17 (advt.) There's no need to lowball the regular $16.99 price.
1987 Forbes 18 May 144/2 The managers back in Tokyo have been lowballing bids and accepting dangerously thin margins.
2003 U.S. News & World Rep. 23 June 29/1 Low-balling profits is a technique that has been used (though generally denied) to achieve the art of earnings ‘smoothing’.
2008 Toronto Star (Nexis) 21 June If they found out [they] were intentionally lowballing the figures..if I were an investor I'd launch a class-action lawsuit.
c. intransitive. To make a deceptively or unrealistically low offer, estimate, etc.; to engage in lowballing. Frequently with on.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > misjudgement > judge wrongly [verb (intransitive)] > underestimate or understate
to look (also see) through the wrong (also other) end of the perspective1646
diminuate1883
poor-mouth1948
lowball1979
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > misjudgement > misjudge [verb (transitive)] > underestimate or undervalue
to make much (also little, nothing, too much, etc.) of (or on)c1395
disprize1480
misprize1483
to make light of1526
extenuate1529
to make the worst ofc1530
seclude?1531
to take (also wrest) to the worst1531
deprisec1550
disparagea1556
undermatch1571
embase1577
underbid1593
underprize1600
underpoise1602
undervalue1611
minorize1615
underspeak1635
underthink1646
underrate1650
minify1676
under-measure1682
underpraise1698
sneeze1806
understate1824
disappreciate1828
under-estimatea1850
minimize1866
to play down1869
worsen1885
to sell short1936
downplay1948
underplay1949
lowball1979
minimalize1979
1979 Chicago Tribune 15 July v. 3/2 An estimator who is working on a percentage..will often ‘lowball’ deliberately to get the business for his company.
1988 Crain's Chicago Business 11 Apr. 3/4 Anchor management lowballed on their estimates of increases in medical charges and health care utilization.
1992 N. Ryan & J. Jenkins Miracle Man ii. 38 I don't lowball just to start the bidding. I'll say, ‘Look, I'm going to make you an offer of what I can pay and what I feel like the value is, and if you want to accept that, fine.’
2010 Rotarian June 23/3 One of the biggest mistakes employers can make is to try to take advantage of unemployed candidates by lowballing on salary offers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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