A: It is likely that “hat trick” was originally applied to the feat in cricket of dismissal by the bowler of three batsmen with three consecutive balls. Apparently, cricket bowlers who accomplished this feat were awarded a bonus of a new hat. The earliest printed evidence of this “hat trick” is from 1882. The term is now applied to hockey and soccer as well, and means the scoring of three goals – not necessarily consecutively – by one player in one game. Another sport in which this term has been adopted is horse racing, where it is used when a jockey rides a winner in three consecutive races or wins an annual race for three consecutive years. More broadly, the term can be applied to any triple accomplishment, even one that occurs outside the domain of sports.

A “rubber” is a series of usually three games, where the third decides the winner if both players or teams have one win each after playing twice. “Rubber” is also used to refer to the third and deciding contest – the “rubber game” or “rubber match” – in such a series. The earliest known printed use of “rubber” in these senses is from 1599.

Exactly how these uses of “rubber” originated isn’t known.

QI’ve been hearing about the so-called “spin doctors.” Can you tell me when the term “spin doctor” was coined? – E.A., Waltham, Mass.

A: A spin doctor is a person, such as a presidential aide, who is responsible for ensuring that others interpret an event from a particular point of view. The effort of a spin doctor is called “spin control,” which has been aptly described as a form of “news management.”

“Spin doctor” became popular in the early 1980s. The term is a combination of a sense of “spin” meaning “a special point of view, emphasis, or interpretation controlling a presentation” and a sense of “doctor” meaning “a person who repairs or restores things” or perhaps simply “a practitioner.” This sense of “spin” may have derived from the figurative use of “spin” in the expression “to spin a yarn,” but a more likely explanation connects it to the spin placed on a ball to control its movement or delivery, as in tennis or billiards.

“Spin doctor” has moved out of the strictly political arena and into the terminology of public relations in general. A news magazine, for example, has run an article about “savvy movie publicists, the spin doctors of the entertainment industry.”

This column was prepared by the editors of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition.

Readers may send questions to Merriam-Webster’s Wordwatch, P.O. Box 281, 47 Federal St., Springfield, MA 01102.

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