Bunt

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /bʌnt/

Definitions

1. A technique in baseball where the batter lightly taps the ball to make it roll a short distance ; a fungal infection that affects cereal crops like wheat, producing dark powdery spores ; the small triangular sail set in the middle of a square sail on a sailing ship
2. In baseball, a controlled gentle hit to strategically place the ball ; a plant disease that damages grain crops by replacing kernels with black spores ; a specific sail used in traditional sailing vessels, positioned near the center of the main sail
3. A lightly tapped baseball hit designed to advance runners or reach base safely ; a crop disease caused by fungi, contaminating grain heads with powdery black spores ; a triangular piece of sailcloth found on square-rigged ships, aiding in sail control and maneuvering

Etymology: The verb "bunt" in baseball and in the sense of tapping a ball softly is one of those words whose origin is simply unknown. Its earliest traceable form is not firmly dated, and the best guess is that it is a nasalised variant of "butt," the familiar word for a light blow with the head or horns, with the "n" added in the way English sometimes adds a nasal sound to a short word. The idea fits the sense: a bunt is a gentle, deliberate push rather than a full swing, much as a butt is a short, blunt strike. The word is recorded in its sporting sense in the context of baseball, where a batter lets the ball hit the bat softly instead of swinging, so it lands just inside the infield. The noun and verb forms share this meaning, and the verb is the one described here.

Synonyms: hit, tap, block, soft hit, squeeze

Antonyms: swing, miss, strike out, foul, swing and miss