shortstop

Etymology

It is formed from English short + stop,^[2][3][4][5] and Merriam-Webster takes the compound after the phrase stop short.^[4][6] The OED compares the cricket term long-stop,^[2] and Etymonline notes that cricket has a longstop, but baseball has none.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A baseball player stationed in the infield between second and third base: 1837, in W. Martin's Book of Sports, the first record in the revised OED.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives about 1837 for this sense,^[4] and Dictionary.com dates the word, as an Americanism, to 1835–45.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline gives a different order: the cricket sense in 1837, for a fielder behind the wicketkeeper, and the baseball sense only from 1857,^[3] the date in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate.^[7] The OED dates the cricket sense, a fielder close behind the batter on the off side (the same as a short slip), from 1838, and notes that it was usually written hyphenated or as two words.^[2] From 1858 the baseball term was used figuratively of someone or something quick at preventing an unwanted outcome.^[2] In 20th-century American slang a shortstop was also a gambler who placed small, cautious bets (1950) and a temporary arrangement or relationship (1972).^[8] Merriam-Webster also records it in industry, for a worker at a rod mill who diverts the rod for coiling, and in chemistry, for an agent that halts a polymerization reaction, with a verb for halting such a reaction.^[4]

Timeline

• 1837 – baseball, the infielder between second and third base, and the position.^[2][4] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate date the baseball sense to 1857.^[3][7]
• 1838 – cricket, a fielder close behind the batter on the off side.^[2] Etymonline dates the cricket sense to 1837.^[3]
• 1858 – figurative, someone or something quick at preventing an undesirable result.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (baseball) The fielding position between second and third base: She has played shortstop since high school.^{[4][9][10][2]}
2. (baseball) The player in that position.^{[4][9][10][2]}
3. (figurative) Someone or something quick or effective at heading off an unwanted outcome.^[2][1]
4. (cricket) A fielding position close behind the batter on the off side, the same as short slip; a fielder there.^[2][3]
5. (chemistry) A substance that halts a polymerization reaction at a chosen stage.^[4]
6. A worker at a rod mill who diverts the rod so that it can be wound into a coil.^[4]

Verb

1. (chemistry) To halt a polymerization reaction by adding a suitable chemical.^[4]

Related words

• short
• stop
• long-stop
• short slip

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin