Googly

Origin

The etymology is uncertain but it is linked to Bernard Bosanquet, who developed such a delivery. It may be important that the word was first reported during one of his New Zealand matches.

Noun

1. (cricket) A ball, bowled by a leg break bowler, that spins from off to leg (to a right-handed batsman), unlike a normal leg-break delivery.
• 1904, Plum Warner, How We Recovered the Ashes, quoted in Sidney J. Baker, The Australian Language, second edition, 1966, chapter XI, section 4, page 248:Bernard Bosanquet (cricketer) can bowl as badly as anyone in the world; but when he gets a length, those slow googlies, as the Australian players call them, are apt to paralyse the greatest players.

Synonyms

• bosie or bosey
• wrong ’un

Derived terms

• bowl a googly

Full definition of googly

Adjective

1. Of the eyes, bulging.