A short form for umpire, the official who makes decisions and enforces rules in sports.
Shortened form of 'umpire,' which came from Old French 'nonpier' (without peer/equal), describing someone who could settle disputes impartially. The 'n' was lost through reanalysis ('a nonpier' became 'an umpire').
Baseball umpires made history in 1884 when they were first given 'balls and strikes' authority—before that, batters could request high or low pitches, making games last 4-5 hours with wildly different rules at each ballpark.
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