Etymologically
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baseman

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈbeɪsmən/, /ˈbeɪsmæn/[1]

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]

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