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Crossword clues for backstop

The Collaborative International Dictionary
Backstop

Backstop \Back"stop`\, n.

  1. In baseball, a fence, prop. at least 90 feet behind the home base, to stop the balls that pass the catcher; also, the catcher himself.

  2. In rounders, the player who stands immediately behind the striking base.

  3. In cricket, the longstop; also, the wicket keeper.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
backstop

1819, in cricket, from back (adj.) + stop (n.). In U.S. baseball, from 1889, "fence behind the catcher;" figurative extension to "catcher on a baseball team" is from 1890. The verb is attested from 1956 in the sense of "support." Related: Backstopped; backstopping.

Wiktionary
backstop

n. 1 A device that prevents railroad cars from rolling off a railroad track. 2 (context baseball English) A wall or fence behind home plate. 3 (context baseball slang English) A catcher; the position of catcher. 4 (cx rounders English) The player who stands immediately behind the striking base. 5 (cx cricket dated English) The longstop. 6 (cx cricket dated English) The wicket-keeper. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To serve as backstop for. 2 (context transitive English) To bolster, support.

WordNet
backstop
  1. n. (baseball) a fence or screen (as behind home plate)

  2. v. act as a backstop

Wikipedia
Backstop

Backstop may refer to:

  • Backstop (baseball), a screen behind home plate
    • Baseball Suspended Tension Backstop
    • Catcher, a defensive baseball position behind home plate
  • Back-Stop (G.I. Joe), a fictional character in the G.I. Joe universe
  • Backstop (Transformers), a fictional character in the Transformers: Cybertron animated series and toy line
  • Operation Backstop, United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) military plan during the Croatian War of Independence

Usage examples of "backstop".

If they were pulling some con here, they almost certainly would have been smart enough to include a quiet backstop in their plans.

Behind it were acres of pine woods, her private land, so the need for an elaborate backstop was questionable, but she did not want to shoot anyone.

The other two aircraft of Backstop Flight were searching behind them, further to the north.

Be advised that Alert Five aircraft, call sign Backstop, are airborne and on intercept course with Bravo.

He was mesmerized by the chatter between aircraft as Backstop One and Two rendezvoused with Icewall.

Tomcat, but they seemed to become aware of the approaching Backstop F-14s at that moment, probably when their own radar receivers detected the SARH lock.

I said as I batted the ball against the backstop a couple of times in order to bring it down to manageable velocity.

Almost as wide as the bulkhead which Cachat had used as the backstop for his firing squad.

It was a simple, though ingenious, device: a flat narrow wooden platform, about half as long as the spear, with a groove in the middle where the spear rested, and a backstop carved into a hook-shape.

It had a hook as a backstop at one end, and two leather loops on both sides for his fingers at the front end.

She fitted the hook, carved as a backstop, into the butt end of the spear, being careful not to crush the feathers.

Thrr-tulkoj, of course, would be seeing Thrr-gilag the whole time if he wanted to, as would whoever was playing backstop in the other dome.

It struck the backstop not a foot from the goal, but before the eagle-eyed Weems could shift his hand, a Polliwog player was in the air and had caught it with one of his reflectors.

If the operation was wide enough, even this backstop position could become a deathtrap.

I are hanging out by the backstop, playing the fortune-telling game MASH like we always do.