hospital pass
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.76 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A pass (for schools, military, etc.) exempting one from regular activities, to instead visit a hospital for treatment
noun
A poorly executed pass to a team-mate, who is likely to lose the ball as a result. (Originally rugby union, where the recipient of a hospital pass is a sitting duck for a hard tackle.)
Australian usage; British usage
noun
a promotion or delegation which is likely to end in failure or ignominy; a poisoned chalice
Example Sentences
- "His first touch was horrid – a hospital pass to Juliano Belletti – but from that moment on his eye-catching football was wonderful to witness."
- "Flood popped out a careless off-load deep in the French 22 to allow a clearing kick to snuff out the danger, and when Nick Easter tried to rumble from deep within his own 22 his hospital pass to Tuilagi triggered another knock-on."
- "Brian Maguire is booked for the challenge on Leo McLoone, who was chasing a hospital pass from Mark McHugh."
- "Having identified a problem, he took no action to deal with it. Lacking the courage of our convictions, he gave a hospital pass to the Bank of England, which then had little option but to step in and raise interest rates"
Usage
- Australian usage
- British usage