baseman

Etymology

It is formed from English base + man, with base in its baseball sense of one of the four stations of the diamond.^[2][3][4] The OED notes that the names of the three fielders may instead be separate formations, from first base and so on with man; the words are first baseman, second baseman and third baseman.^[2] Dictionary.com marks it as an Americanism.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fielder stationed at one of the three bases in baseball: the OED's first quotation is from the Spirit of the Times of 28 November 1857,^[2] and Etymonline also dates it to 1857.^[3] Dictionary.com dates it 1855–60.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its baseball sense, and the OED now extends it to softball.^[2] In American children's games such as hide-and-seek, baseman was also a name for the player who is "it", the one who has to catch the others, recorded by the Dictionary of American Regional English in the 1960s.^[5] In American criminal slang of the late 20th century a baseman was a user who smoked freebase cocaine.^[6]

Timeline

• 1857 – a fielder at first, second or third base in baseball.^[2][3]
• 1966 – in children's games, the player who is "it".^[5]
• 1992 – a smoker of freebase cocaine, in American slang.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (baseball, softball) A fielder stationed at or near first, second or third base: see first baseman, second baseman and third baseman.^[7][8][2]
2. (US regional) In some children's games, the player who has to catch the others; "it".^[5]
3. (US slang) A person who smokes freebase cocaine.^[6]

Related words

• base
• man
• first baseman
• second baseman
• third baseman
• baseball

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
6. ^ a b c Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin