Word.ws English Dictionary

hit the ball twice

hit the ball twice noun: a rule ("law" in cricket) which when invoked results in the dismissal of a batsman (out), whereby the batsman has deliberately hit the ball with his bat a second time for a reason other than to protect his wicket.

Noun

hit the ball twice (phrasal noun, uncountable)

  1. (noun, phrasal) A rule ("law" in cricket) which when invoked results in the dismissal of a batsman (out), whereby the batsman has deliberately hit the ball with his bat a second time for a reason other than to protect his wicket.
    • 34. Hit the ball twice1992, Tony Pocock, Official Rules of Sports & Games, 1992-93, page 392
    • Law 34 (Hit the ball twice) ...2003, Marylebone Cricket Club, The official laws of cricket: Law 34 (Hit the ball twice) [online version], archived from the original on 20 Feb 2009

Adverb

hit the ball twice (not comparable)

  1. In accordance with this rule against hitting the ball a second time.
    • ... purely defensive second stroke, picked up the ball, and, pretending to aim at the wicket, purposely flung it wide, thereby beguiling the batsman into starting for a run, for which he was given out "hit the ball twice."1904, The Windsor magazine, volume 20, page 406
    • The striker, on appeal, shall be out hit the ball twice if, after the ball is struck [...]1992, Tony Pocock, Official Rules of Sports & Games, 1992-93, page 392

Words formed from hit the ball twice

  • out hit the ball twice

Questions about hit the ball twice

What does hit the ball twice mean?
Hit the ball twice means a rule ("law" in cricket) which when invoked results in the dismissal of a batsman (out), whereby the batsman has deliberately hit the ball with his bat a second time for a reason other than to protect his wicket.
What part of speech is hit the ball twice?
Hit the ball twice can be a noun or an adverb.

Words near hit the ball twice in the dictionary

  1. hit squad
  2. hit squads
  3. hit test
  4. hit tests
  5. hit the accelerator
  6. hit the ball twice
  7. hit the big time
  8. hit the board
  9. hit the books
  10. hit the bottle
  11. hit the bricks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hit the ball twice (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-hit the ball twice.ogg.

Cite this entry: “hit the ball twice.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hit_the_ball_twice. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.