bowl a googly
bowl a googly verb: to surprise (someone); to introduce (to someone) something unexpected, underhand or requiring a quick reaction or correction.
Verb
bowl a googly (third-person singular simple present bowls a googly, present participle bowling a googly, simple past and past participle bowled a googly)
- to surprise (someone); to introduce (to someone) something unexpected, underhand or requiring a quick reaction or correction.
- Fred bowled me a googly when he asked me to explain those statistics in the meeting.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bowl, googly.
- Synonyms:
- catch unawares, catch off guard, wrong-foot
Synonyms of bowl a googly
- catch unawares
- catch off guard
- wrong-foot
Forms of bowl a googly
| third-person singular present | bowls a googly |
|---|---|
| present participle | bowling a googly |
| past participle | bowled a googly |
| past | bowled a googly |
Origin of bowl a googly
From the cricket term.
Questions about bowl a googly
- What does bowl a googly mean?
- Bowl a googly means to surprise (someone); to introduce (to someone) something unexpected, underhand or requiring a quick reaction or correction.
- What part of speech is bowl a googly?
- Bowl a googly is a verb.
- What is the past tense of bowl a googly?
- The past tense of bowl a googly is bowled a googly.
Words near bowl a googly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bowl a googly (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-bowl a googly.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bowl a googly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bowl_a_googly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.