Word.ws English Dictionary

at 'em ball

at 'em ball noun: a hard-hit batted ball hit straight at a fielder in the air for an out.

Noun

at 'em ball (plural at 'em balls)

  1. (slang) A hard-hit batted ball hit straight at a fielder in the air for an out.
    • If opposing hitters consistently hit balls at -Fielders, the fortunate pitcher is said, to be possessed of an "at 'em ball."1996, Mike Whiteford, How to Talk Baseball, →ISBN, page 76

Forms of at 'em ball

pluralat 'em balls
alternative format'em ball
alternative format-'em ball

Origin of at 'em ball

Because such a ball is hit straight at 'em (at them).

Questions about at 'em ball

What does at 'em ball mean?
At 'em ball means a hard-hit batted ball hit straight at a fielder in the air for an out.
What part of speech is at 'em ball?
At 'em ball is a noun.
What is the plural of at 'em ball?
The plural of at 'em ball is at 'em balls.

Words near at 'em ball in the dictionary

  1. Asyut
  2. asyzygetic
  3. Aszód
  4. Asău
  5. at
  6. at 'em ball
  7. at 'em balls
  8. at a brunt
  9. at a canter
  10. at a clip
  11. at a discount

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: at 'em ball (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “at 'em ball.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/at_%27em_ball. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.