View synonyms for

squeeze play

noun

Baseball.��
1. Also called suicide squeeze play.��Also called suicide squeeze.��a play executed when there is a runner on third base and usually not more than one out, in which the runner starts for home as soon as the pitcher makes a motion to pitch, and the batter bunts.
2. Also called safety squeeze play.��Also called safety squeeze.��a similar play in which the runner on third base waits until the batter has successfully bunted before trying to score.
the application of pressure or influence on a person or group in order to force compliance or gain an advantage.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of squeeze play¹

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

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Idioms and Phrases

A situation in which pressure exerted to obtain a concession or achieve a goal, as in Workers sometimes feel caught in a squeeze play between union and management. This expression, dating from about 1900, originated in baseball, where it refers to a prearranged play in which the runner on third base breaks for home plate on the pitch, and the batter bunts. [c. 1915]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

In the ninth, the Dodgers put on a squeeze play with runners on the corners and no outs, tying the score when Chris Taylor’s bunt got away from Mets reliever Adam Ottavino.

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You might call it a squeeze play: Schiff wanted to keep his two closest Democratic competitors out of the fall race, and he succeeded.

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Then Kevin Smith brought in another run on a successful squeeze play.

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Douglas Hodo II had an RBI single, and the Longhorns scored on a squeeze play and wild pitch.

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Rangers reliever Dennis Santana made a heads-up defensive play to prevent the A’s from pulling off a squeeze play in the fifth.

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squeeze off squeeze through

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