/ ˈʌmpaɪə(r); NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
(also NAmE informal ump ) ( in sports such as tennis and baseball ) a person whose job is to watch a game and make sure that rules are not broken
—picture at cricket , baseball
—compare referee
■ verb
to act as an umpire :
[ v ]
We need someone to umpire.
[ vn ]
to umpire a game of baseball
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English (originally as noumpere ) (denoting an arbitrator): from Old French nonper not equal. The n was lost by wrong division of a noumpere ; compare with adder .