spitball

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • n spitball an illegal pitch in which a foreign substance (spit or Vaseline) is applied to the ball by the pitcher before he throws it
    • n spitball a projectile made by chewing a piece of paper and shaping it into a sphere
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • spitball (Baseball) A pitched ball in throwing which the pitcher grips the ball between two, or three, fingers on one side (which is made slippery, as by saliva) and the thumb on the other side, and delivers it so that it slips off the fingers with the least possible friction; -- also called spitter. When pitched directly overhand a spit ball darts downward, when pitched with the arm extended sidewise it darts down and out. The use of such a pitch is against the rules of professional baseball.
    • spitball Paper chewed, and rolled into a ball, to be thrown as a missile; -- a childish prank.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n spitball Paper chewed and made into a ball to be used as a missile.
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Usage

In literature:

I don't care if you don't know a spitball from a fadeaway when you see it.
"Buttered Side Down" by Edna Ferber
The teachers had forbidden me to throw paper wads, or spitballs.
"The Iron Puddler" by James J. Davis
You might stick yourselves right in the way of one of them spitballs.
"The Black Box" by E. Phillips Oppenheim
There were others who took no end of pains to make paper arrows, or spitballs that would stick to the ceiling.
"Grenfell: Knight-Errant of the North" by Fullerton Waldo
They hurl the murdherous spitball.
"International Short Stories" by Various
Get laid, get shitfaced, and let a bunch of students spitball bullshit ideas for fighting back?
"Makers" by Cory Doctorow
No adversary seeks to fool him with speed or spitballs.
"Pieces of Hate" by Heywood Broun
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In news:

D'Alessandro: Knicks critics need to holster their spitballs after spirited Game 2 loss.
nj.com
Detroit Tigers closer Jose Valverde denied throwing a spitball in the ninth inning of Sunday night's 7-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
washingtontimes.com
What's the purpose of a spitball .
kkcb.com
The fiscal year is nearly half over, but lawmakers are still shooting spitballs across the aisle over a very small part of the budget instead of doing what they should have done six months ago -- fund the government for the rest of the year.
money.cnn.com
South Carolina rapper Danny Swain shoots clever satiric spitballs from the hip-hop margins.
rollingstone.com
As broad as a barn yet as thin as paper, The Watch is a summertime action-comedy that works almost in spite of its overcrowded cast and loose, pulpy spitball of a plot.
boxoffice.com
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