line drive

noun

: a batted baseball hit in a nearly straight line usually not far above the ground

Examples of line drive in a Sentence

He hit a hard line drive to the shortstop.
Recent Examples on the Web With two outs, a runner on second base, and his team holding a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Blue Jays, Rafaela broke in four steps to catch a line drive off the bat of Daulton Varsho only to see the ball sail over his head. Peter Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Sep. 2023 Miguel Rojas was hit by a pitch with one out and the bases loaded for a 2-1 Dodgers lead in the second, but Bogaerts made a leaping grab of Betts’ 101.6-mph line drive to shortstop, and Freeman grounded out to second to end the inning. Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 12 Sep. 2023 Jung, who broke his thumb fielding a line drive vs. Miami on Aug. 6, has started to field groundballs and hit off a tee in the last week. Shawn McFarland, Dallas News, 10 Sep. 2023 Cleveland cut into Tampa’s lead in the third when Myles Straw reached on an error by Walls and scored on a soft line drive single to center by Laureano. Joe Noga, cleveland, 3 Sep. 2023 In the eighth inning, Ohtani provided an insurance run by sending a line drive over the right-field wall for his 40th home run. Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 4 Aug. 2023 When Ripken squeezed a soft line drive for the final out, McGregor pumped his fist. Mike Klingaman, Baltimore Sun, 2 Aug. 2023 Tyler Freeman took a base hit away from Freddie Freeman earlier in the inning with a leaping grab on a line drive to third. Joe Noga, cleveland, 24 Aug. 2023 Kershaw got into more trouble in the fourth — Willy Adames hit a one-out double, then Andruw Monasterio drew a walk — before being bailed out again by Freeman, who snagged another line drive and beat Monasterio back to the bag for a double play that ended the inning. Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'line drive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1903, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of line drive was in 1903

Dictionary Entries Near line drive

Cite this Entry

“Line drive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/line%20drive. Accessed 28 Sep. 2023.

Kids Definition

line drive

noun
: a batted baseball hit not far above the ground in a nearly straight line

More from Merriam-Webster on line drive

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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