grand slam

noun

1

baseball : a home run hit with the bases loaded

… the Dodgers' Eric Karros has a shot to become the first player in history to get 200 career home runs without a grand slam.

—Tim Kurkjian

2

a usually Grand Slam

(1)

: the winning of all four of the most significant championships in a particular sport in the same year

—used especially in tennis and golf

… with … Nadal spoiling Federer's bid for the Grand Slam by beating him on the clay at the French Open.

—Sean Gregory

"And so to St. Andrews to begin the quest for the Grand Slam," he [Bobby Jones] wrote.

—Dave Anderson

also : the winning of all four such championships during the course of one's career

Woods … could become the youngest player to win the career Grand Slam, at age 24.

—Clifton Brown

(2)

: one of the championships that comprise a Grand Slam : major entry 2 sense 6

"Last year she was a little hungrier," says Davenport's coach, Robert Van't Hof. "She hadn't won a Grand Slam yet."

—Diane K. Shah

—often used before another noun

a Grand Slam event/tournament

Graf was 17 when she won the first of her 21 Grand Slam titles here in 1987 …

—Robin Finn

b

: a clean sweep or total success

3

: the winning of all the tricks in one hand of a card game (such as bridge)

Once, looking over Grace's shoulder, I saw her make a grand slam in clubs when the highest trump card in her hand was the nine.

—William Maxwell

Examples of grand slam in a Sentence

He made a grand slam.

Recent Examples on the Web

Freeman swung and the ball disappeared in historic parabola, the first-ever World Series game-winning grand slam. —Nicholas Dawidoff, The New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2024

Advertisement Dodgers Hall of Fame won’t get Freddie Freeman’s grand slam ball, but Dodgers donate World Series memorabilia Oct. 31, 2024 The statistics are based on the amount of money spent on all merchandise, including jerseys, T-shirts, collectibles and more. —Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2024

And after Super Micro broke that news to investors, auditor Ernst & Young came back with a World Series grand slam rebuttal. —Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 31 Oct. 2024

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman just hit a massive grand slam in the first game of the World Series to go up 1-0 against the Yankees. —John Brandon, Forbes, 26 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1800, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Kids Definition

grand slam

noun

: a home run hit with three runners on base