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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

Hail Mary pass en · NOUN

Etymology

From Hail Mary, a prayer for intercession, from Latin Ave Maria, plus pass (“moving the ball from one player to another”). Attested from the 1970s in the context of American football.

Meanings

  1. A long forward pass with little chance of completion, typically used by the losing team when time is running out and no other play is practical, in a desperate attempt to score the winning points.
    • The black sky emptied as about 50,000 rain-soaked University of Colorado football fans exhaled in improbable joy at Folsom Field. This was after the Hail Mary pass caught as time expired, after the game-clinching fumble that squirted out of the end zone in overtime. 2024 October 4, John Branch, “What Does College Football Have to Do With College?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
    • Maybe I should just toss up a “Hail Mary” pass deep into their territory, as though I was saying a prayer that one of our players would catch it. 1990, Michael Teitelbaum, Play Book! Football, →OCLC, page 35:
    • With 11:04 left in the game, and a comfortable 38–14 lead, Smith heaved a 62-yard, Hail Mary pass to Carter. 1983, “A Run for the Roses”, in Michigan Ensian, page 120:
  2. (broadly) An act done in desperation, with only a very small chance of success.
    • Some liken that offensive to a “Hail Mary” pass, with the Taliban still entrenched throughout southern and eastern Afghanistan and a program to persuade Talib soldiers to lay down arms and be “reintegrated” into Afghan society having achieved little so far. 2010 September 11, Mark Mazzetti, “As Time Passes, the Goals in Afghanistan Shrink”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
Hail Mary passes Number=Plur lexicographic

Relateds

forlorn hope · hospital pass

Translations (8)

de Verzweiflungsakt (act done in desperation) · de Hail Mary (American football: pass with little chance of completion) · pl Hail Mary pass (American football: pass with little chance of completion) · de Hail Mary Pass (American football: pass with little chance of completion) · is örvæntingarúrræði (act done in desperation) · nl wanhoopsdaad (act done in desperation) · de Verzweiflungstat (act done in desperation) · pl działanie w desperacji (act done in desperation)