Word.ws English Dictionary

dust off a batter

dust off a batter verb: for a pitcher to throw a pitch at or near the batter, typically to frighten the batter or to have him stand farther away from home plate.

Verb

dust off a batter (third-person singular simple present dusts off a batter, present participle dusting off a batter, simple past and past participle dusted off a batter)

  1. (idiomatic) for a pitcher to throw a pitch at or near the batter, typically to frighten the batter or to have him stand farther away from home plate.
    • That pitcher doesn't like the hitters too close to the plate so every once in a while he'll dust off a batter.
    • He never attempted to dust off a batter; and his control was so great that no hitter was ever afraid to stand right up to the plate and look Matty's fast ball right in the eye.1947, Robert Smith, Baseball: a historical narrative of the game, the men who have played it, and its place in American life, page 206

Forms of dust off a batter

third-person singular presentdusts off a batter
present participledusting off a batter
past participledusted off a batter
pastdusted off a batter

Origin of dust off a batter

From the concept that a pitch thrown very close to a batter will remove some dust or dirt from the batter's uniform either by brushing against it or causing a breeze very close to it, or alternatively by the batter jumping away from the pitch to avoid being hit.

Questions about dust off a batter

What does dust off a batter mean?
Dust off a batter means for a pitcher to throw a pitch at or near the batter, typically to frighten the batter or to have him stand farther away from home plate.
What part of speech is dust off a batter?
Dust off a batter is a verb.
What is the past tense of dust off a batter?
The past tense of dust off a batter is dusted off a batter.

Words near dust off a batter in the dictionary

  1. dust mites
  2. dust mote
  3. dust motes
  4. dust mouse
  5. dust off
  6. dust off a batter
  7. dust off the cobwebs
  8. dust out
  9. dust plug
  10. dust plugs
  11. dust ruffle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dust off a batter (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-dust off a batter.ogg.

Cite this entry: “dust off a batter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dust_off_a_batter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.