bullpen

Pronunciation

• /ˈbʊlpen/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English bull + pen, also spelled with a hyphen.^[2][3][4] Wilton notes that the combination had long been used literally for a place to keep bulls.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pen of felled pine trees used to hold captured Tories as prisoners: 1809, in Horry and Weems's Life of General F. Marion.^[6][5][3] Etymonline dates the word to 1820, in the sense "pen for bulls".^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the early 19th century bullpen became American slang for a jail or holding area,^[5][6] common in American Civil War camps for prisoners held temporarily;^[2] the AHD says it earlier meant a stockade or exercise area for prisoners.^[7] The sense lives on in a large holding cell where prisoners wait to go into court.^[3][8][9] In baseball the word first named a roped-off area in foul territory or the outfield for the cheap standing crowd, as in the Cincinnati Enquirer of 1877, more than a decade before relief pitchers were allowed.^[5] The pitchers' warm-up area is recorded from about 1910 according to Wilton,^[5] but only from 1915 according to Etymonline, which derives it from the prison sense.^[2] Wilton thinks it came instead from the area for the cheap crowd, where the warm-up area was often later placed, and that it was helped along by the Bull Durham tobacco signs common on outfield fences around 1910.^[5] From the pitchers' area the word came to mean a team's relief pitchers as a group.^[3] It was also the name of a children's ball game, recorded from 1857 and chiefly in the Midland;^[10] Etymonline describes it as a baseball-like game of the late 19th century.^[2] Later American slang applied it to an open office area full of desks.^[9]

Timeline

• 1809 – an enclosure for holding prisoners.^[6][3]
• 1820 – a pen for bulls.^[2]
• 1857 – a children's ball game.^[10]
• 1877 – in baseball, an area for spectators with cheap tickets.^[5]
• 1880 – a holding cell in a court or jail.^[9]
• c. 1910 – the area where relief pitchers warm up.^[5] Etymonline dates this sense to 1915.^[2]
• 1983 – an open office area with rows of desks.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. In baseball, the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game.^[3][2]
2. The relief pitchers of a baseball team as a group: Their bullpen let a three-run lead slip away.^[3]
3. A large holding cell where prisoners wait until they are brought into court.^[3][8][9]
4. (US slang) An open office area where many people work at desks.^[9]
5. (US regional, old-fashioned) A children's ball game in which players try to hit those inside a pen with a ball.^[10]
6. (archaic) An enclosure, as of logs, used as a temporary place of confinement.^[3][6]

Related words

• bull
• pen

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Wilton, Dave, Wordorigins.org, wordorigins.org, p. "bullpen", 1 November 2023
6. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
9. ^ a b c d e f Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
10. ^ 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