I. ˈbȯl noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English bal, from Old Norse böllr akin to Old English bealluc testis, Old High German balla ball, Old English bula bull — more at bull
1. : a round or roundish body or mass: as
a. : a spherical or ovoid body of any kind for throwing, hitting, or kicking in games or sports
the baseball player knocked the ball down the third-base line
kick the ball over the goalposts
b. : a celestial body : earth , globe
c. : any of various spherical, rounded, or conical missiles or projectiles (as for a catapult, cannon, or firearm) ; also : projectiles used in firearms : bullets
powder and ball
d. : a roundish protuberant part of the body: as
(1) : the rounded eminence by which the base of the thumb is continuous with the palm of the hand
(2) : the rounded broad part of the sole of the human foot between toes and arch and on which the main weight of the body first rests in normal walking ; also : the corresponding part of a shoe or of a last
(3) : the padded rounded underside of a human finger or toe near the tip
e. : eyeball
f. : a ball-shaped dabber made usually of pelt stuffed with wool and fastened to a handle and formerly used by printers for inking a form
g. : a mandrel upon which steel piping is welded by concave rolls
h. : ball bearing
i. : testis — usually considered vulgar
j. : a spherical architectural ornament often hollow and of considerable size crowning a cupola or dome
k. : a small globose fruit or seed pod : seed ball
l. : the compact mass of earth and roots often tightly bound (as with burlap) and moved with a transplanted tree, shrub, or herbaceous plant
m. : a solidified mass of iron in the manufacture of wrought iron intimately mixed with siliceous slag and being the result of puddling or of pouring molten refined iron into slag
n. : a large pill (as one used in veterinary medicine) : bolus
o.
(1) : a ball-shaped mass (as of candy, pastry, vegetable, minced fish, or meat)
(2) : a small rounded mass ranging in consistency from soft to hard and formed when sugar is boiled to a certain temperature and then quickly chilled
2. : a game in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or struck ; especially : baseball
play ball for two hours
3.
a. : the delivery of the ball (as in baseball)
a fast ball
a curve ball
b. : a pitched baseball not struck at by the batter that fails to pass through the strike zone
a count of three balls and two strikes
c. cricket : a fair delivery of the ball by bowling — opposed to no ball ; compare wide
4. slang : fellow , character
this narrator … is an odd ball indeed — Hollis Alpert
5. balls plural
[from plural of ball (testis)]
: nonsense — often used interjectionally to express disapproval or annoyance; often considered vulgar
6. : main authority over or direction of an enterprise or activity : responsibility
to take the ball away from the incompetent director and give it to a new man
•
- get the ball rolling
- keep the ball rolling
- on the ball
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to form into a ball: as
a. : to squeeze into a more or less compact mass
balling each sheet of paper into a wad before throwing it away
— often used with up
b. : to wind up (as string) upon itself
c. : to form (as molten iron) into balls in the manufacture of wrought iron
d. : to cluster densely about (the queen bee) — used of bees
2. : to clog (the hoof of an animal) with balls
the pony's hoofs got badly balled in the mud
3. : to compact a ball of earth about (a tree, shrub, or herbaceous plant or its roots) for storing or transporting
4. : to give a medicinal ball to (as a horse)
intransitive verb
: to form, gather, collect, or pack into a ball or balls
the stallion's right forefoot balled with snow and sand — W.V.T.Clark
the boiled sugar balled when dropped into cold water
smaller shotgun pellets liable to ball in the barrel
— often used with up
danger of the stuff balling up, i. e. the fibers clot up into small inseparable balls of fiber — F.H.Norris
•
- ball the jack
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: French bal, from Old French, from baller to dance, from Late Latin ballare, from Greek ballizein; akin to Sanskrit balbalīti he whirls
1. : a large formal gathering for social dancing
2. : a good time : picnic
a fairly monstrous cowboy actor in from the Coast for a ball — Gilbert Millstein
it's a ball for a while, but it's no life to lead — David Hulburd
IV. noun
balls plural : nerve 3b c — often considered vulgar
don't have enough balls to try out their new material in front of a real audience — East Village Other
V. verb
Etymology: ball (I) (testis)
transitive verb
: to have sexual intercourse with — usually considered vulgar
intransitive verb
: to have sexual intercourse — usually considered vulgar