D&d flat footed10/20/2023 ![]() ![]() All of those matches refer to baseball, and specifically to base runners, not batters or fielders. Google Books finds a total of five matches for flat-footed in the sense of "off-guard or unprepared" from the period 1911–1912-but nothing earlier. McConnell, of the Bisons, he never actively opposed it. Lighter, Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (1994) dates the adjective flat in this sense to 1832–1833:įlat adj. English slang, the earliest slang meaning of the term flat-footed seems to have occurred as an extension of flat in the sense of broke, penniless, or destitute. Was baseball the sport in which the later usage of the expression was first used, making it an AmE Idiom?ĭictionary coverage of the slang term 'flat-footed' Is there evidence (I couldn't find any) that flat-footed meant unprepared as early as the 18th century? Later, this term was used to describe a runner not on his toes and left at the mark when the foot race began, and eventually generalized to mean anyone This phrase traces back to the reign of Queen Anne, where it was applied to horses left at the line after the start of the race.While the following source, together with others, suggest that the idiomatic expression is much older (early 18th century) and was originally used during horse races: baseball slang, on notion of "not on one's toes. Meaning " unprepared" is from 1912, U.S.Įtymonline indicates "baseball" as the sport in which the expression was first used and agrees that it is from the early 1900c: ![]() This usage comes from one or another sport in which a player should be on his or her toes, ready to act. caught unprepared, taken by surprise, as in The reporter's question caught the President flat-footed.The idiomatic expression " caught flat-footed" originated in sports at the beginning of the 20th century according the following source: ![]()
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