screamer

1. (obsolete, US, hunting) A healthy, vigorous animal.Examples: "I had seen the track of the bear they were after, and I knowed he was a screamer."USobsolete

2. (sports, cricket) A difficult catch.Examples: "But then he came around the wicket again, I slashed at one, and Strauss, at full stretch diving to his left at second slip, took an absolute screamer. It was the catch of the summer, and it happened to me."

3. (sports, baseball) A very hard hit.Examples: "His screamer into the right field bleachers in the sixth with Scarborough and Viau on base put Hickory out in front 9 to 8 and the lead held for the rest of the game."

4. (sports, Australian rules football) A particularly high mark (clean catch of a kicked ball).Examples: "Virtually every other facet of the game is shared by other sports, but the sight of a player taking a fingertip ‘screamer’ whilst perched on the shoulders of an opponent is unique to footy, and players who perfect this ability are among the code’s most celebrated and well remembered."

5. (sports, soccer, golf) A powerful shot.Examples: "Kasper Schmeichel brilliantly denied Marouane Chamakh before Bacary Sagna thumped home a second, though Bradley Johnson's screamer halved the deficit."

6. (sports, surfing) A very large wave.Examples: "That set the pattern for us both. Catch a screamer, work it hard for as long as you could, then drop back over the shoulder and paddle back out to the line-up."