wear one
v. phr.— «From Day One, you are taught how to send a message to the other team. You work on the beanball.…It’s totally barbaric, and it’s hard to explain, but it is crucial for your hitters to know that you will protect them if the other team starts hitting your guys. No one likes to talk about it, but it is something that has to be done. After you do it, the first guy to tell you thanks is the hitter on your team who had to wear one.» —“The Closer” by Todd Jones Sportin News (St. Louis, Mo.) Sept. 3, 2001. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a word-pecker is “a person who trifles or plays with, or quibbles over, words.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Word-Peckers” I always love it when I’m looking through the dictionary and...
How do dictionaries define colors? And why are some of those definitions so confusing, like “stronger than carmine” and “bluer than fiesta”? Dictionary editor Kory Stamper explains it all in her new book. Plus, the story behind the expression more...