Touch base is an idiom commonly seen in a business context that means to contact or reconnect with someone for a short time, as in “touch the premises next week.” The phrase is thought to have something to do with baseball in which both runners and track athletes have to “touch the kickstand” in order to stay safe or score a goal. Perhaps the idea of ”facility” was associated with “home base” or meeting place, before becoming the idiom we know today.
ARRIVE touch base means to contact or communicate with someone, usually for short periods of time.
At least, when free agency kicks off this winter, the Yankees and Cole, represented by Scott Boras, will touch base and show mutual concern. —Ken Davidoff, New York Post OfficeOctober 22, 2019
Musical said he would touch base with town staff to see what additional information may be needed. He said the timeframe for re-registration depends on the town. —Stephen Beale, Norwich NewsOctober 14, 2019
Touch Base: Business or baseball?
Touch base often mentioned in the list of overused business jargon. To modern English speakers, especially Americans, the phrase conjures up images of baseball, where the bases in the corner are positions that runners must be exposed to before running. disqualified — or, perhaps, the need of a ball-owning athlete to make contact with one of the bases to score one of certain situations.
In spite of touch base as an idiom that is rarely seen in that form (i.e. without articles such as the) in modern descriptions of baseball, it can be found in instances throughout the 20th century, especially in descriptions of rule books and the like:
If Mr. Umpire himself at any time doubts whether a man has passed or failed and touch base Before the ball holder secures the ball there, the safest and best way is to give its benefits to the base runner, as the rules state that the ball must be held by the holder before the runner touches the base. — Richard George Knowles & Richard Morton, Baseball1896
Touch base can also be found in cases base refers to some type of station where communication will be established. The following describes the rules of a version of Hide and Seek:
When he gets too involved, the other players look for hiding places. As soon as he changed the wick, the leader began to search, or rather “snoop” because whenever he saw one, “It” could rush back. touch base, crying out the name of the player he just followed. — Godey’s Lady’s Book MagazineDecember 1879
As the examples at the beginning of this article suggest, the present idiom of touch base suggests a meeting of sorts between the two. It’s a long way to go from the idea of a jogger safely approaching the grounds to having two people discussing business together. One possible explanation for derivation could be the idea of base as a home or headquarters might lead to a salesperson’s suggestion (for example) in the field of “contact facilities”—that is, returning to headquarters to meet customers or colleagues. Some have also theorized that touch base may be a broken form of touch base or touch base¸ but the lack of substantial evidence for either form puts that theory back to the pit.
DISCOVER MORE: Do you know these baseball idioms?
Categories: Usage Notes
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