sinker
Americannoun
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a person or thing that sinks.
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a person employed in sinking, as one who sinks shafts.
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a weight, as of lead, for sinking a fishing line or net below the surface of the water.
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Slang. a doughnut or, sometimes, a biscuit or muffin.
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Also called sinkerball. Baseball. a fastball that curves downward sharply as it reaches the plate.
noun
Other Word Forms
- sinkerless adjective
Etymology
Origin of sinker
First recorded in 1520–30; 1870–75 in the sense “doughnut“; 1930–35 in the baseball sense; sink + -er 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Gandy found the juicy tidbit and swallowed it—worm, hook, line, sinker, and all.
From Literature
Yamamoto reached into his five-pitch repertoire Saturday, mixing in six fastballs, eight splitters, five sinkers, four cutters, four curveballs and three sliders.
From Los Angeles Times
I am a believer that you should not take the sentiment data hook, line, and sinker because we know that what a consumer says and what they do can sometimes be different things.
From Barron's
He tinkered with new pitches, including a cutter and sinker, but still couldn’t execute his trademark splitter the way he wanted.
From Los Angeles Times
But he had one of the best ground-ball rates in the sport thanks to a sinker he used more than ever before in his career.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
