Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A poker game in which the lowest-ranking hand wins.
  • transitive verb to give a deceptively low estimate of the price of (merchandise or services); -- a sales tactic to induce a person to buy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The position of the ball on an American railroad ball signal that indicated Stop.
  • noun poker A form of poker in which the lowest-ranking poker hand wins the pot. Usually the ace is the lowest-ranking card, straights and flushes do not count making the best possible hand being A, 2, 3, 4, 5 regardless of suits (in contrast to deuce-to-seven lowball.)
  • noun A form of cribbage in which the first to score 121 (or 61) is the loser.
  • noun An unmixed alcohol drink served on ice or water in a short glass.
  • verb transitive to give an intentionally low estimate of anything, not necessarily with deceptive intent.
  • verb transitive To give (a customer) a deceptively low price or cost estimate that one has no intention of honoring or to prepare a cost estimate deliberately and misleadingly low.
  • verb transitive To make an offer well below an item's true value, often to take advantage of the seller's desperation or desire to sell the item quickly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make a deliberately low estimate

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

American railroad term that described one of two positions of the ball of a ball signal. This is the same history for highball. 2001, Anthony J. Biancull, Trains and Technology: The American Railroad in the Nineteenth Century, ISBN 0874138035:

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Examples

  • (The budget calls the lowball $50 billion number a "placeholder" for "some as-yet unknown costs.")

    Forbes.com: News 2010

  • (The budget calls the lowball $50 billion number a "placeholder" for "some as-yet unknown costs.")

    RSSMicro Search - Top News on RSS Feeds 2010

  • (The budget calls the lowball $50 billion number a "placeholder" for "some as-yet unknown costs.")

    Forbes.com: News 2010

  • Most buyers are afraid to "lowball" you too much, but will try to get you to move lower than they're ultimately willing and ready to pay.

    Cut Commissions With 'For Sale By Owner' Sales Barry Nielsen 2010

  • Most buyers are afraid to "lowball" you too much, but will try to get you to move lower than they're ultimately willing and ready to pay.

    Cut Commissions With 'For Sale By Owner' Sales 2010

  • Most buyers are afraid to "lowball" you too much, but will try to get you to move lower than they're ultimately willing and ready to pay.

    Cut Commissions With 'For Sale By Owner' Sales 2010

  • Aspen's interest was initially seen as a lifeline for Sigma, but analysts last week described the 55 Australian cents a share offer as "lowball" and "opportunistic."

    Sigma Seeks Better Deal 2010

  • He also expects "the Conservative government to "lowball" the degree of American involvement."

    Archive 2008-08-01 West End Bob 2008

  • Then, if you don't want to "lowball" him, you would try to reach a compromise somewhere between those two numbers, which should also entice him to

    Comments for FanGraphs Baseball 2010

  • They have been accused 0f misreading the market, of trying to "lowball" their target, and even -- incredulously to me -- "punished" by Scott Boras for the temerity of not valuing the aging righty sinkerballer as high as he and his agent did.

    Mike's Mets 2009

Comments

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  • "The play will go on—the hall’s been rented, after all. It’s clear by now, though, that it’s likely to be not even a dress rehearsal. More like a read-through. And the script’s pretty weak—10 days ago the US made it clear that they’d lowball their offer. Obama will propose 4 percent reductions in its emissions by 2020, compared with 20 percent for the Europeans (a number the EU said they’d raise to 30 percent if the US would go along). Scientists, meanwhile, have made it clear that a serious offer would mean about 40 percent cuts by 2020. So—we’re exactly an order of magnitude shy of what the physics demands."

    - Bill McKibben, The Show Must Go On, motherjones.com, 5 Dec 2009.

    December 21, 2009