ball 1
— baller , n.
/bawl/ , n.
1. a spherical or approximately spherical body or shape; sphere: He rolled the piece of paper into a ball.
2. a round or roundish body, of various sizes and materials, either hollow or solid, for use in games, as baseball, football, tennis, or golf.
3. a game played with a ball, esp. baseball: The boys are out playing ball.
4. Baseball. a pitched ball, not swung at by the batter, that does not pass over home plate between the batter's shoulders and knees.
5. Mil.
a. a solid, usually spherical projectile for a cannon, rifle, pistol, etc., as distinguished from a shell.
b. projectiles, esp. bullets, collectively.
6. any part of a thing, esp. of the human body, that is rounded or protuberant: the ball of the thumb.
7. a round mass of food, as of chopped meat, dough, or candy.
8. Slang ( vulgar ). a testis.
9. balls , Slang ( vulgar ).
a. boldness; courage; brashness.
b. nonsense (often used as an interjection).
10. bolus (def. 1).
11. Hort. a compact mass of soil covering the roots of an uprooted tree or other plant.
12. Literary. a planetary or celestial body, esp. the earth.
13. Math. (in a metric space) the set of points whose distance from the zero element is less than, or less than or equal to, a specified number.
14. carry the ball , to assume the responsibility; bear the burden: You can always count on him to carry the ball in an emergency.
15. drop the ball , to make a mistake or miss an opportunity at a critical moment.
16. keep the ball rolling , to continue or give renewed vigor to an activity already under way: When their interest lagged, he tried to keep the ball rolling.
17. on the ball ,
a. alert and efficient or effective: If you don't get on the ball, you'll be fired.
b. indicating intelligence or ability: The tests show your students don't have much on the ball. The new manager has a lot on the ball.
18. play ball ,
a. to begin or continue playing a game.
b. to start or continue any action.
c. to work together; cooperate: union leaders suspected of playing ball with racketeers.
19. run with the ball , to assume responsibility or work enthusiastically: If management approves the concept, we'll run with the ball.
20. start the ball rolling , to put into operation; begin: The recreation director started the ball rolling by having all the participants introduce themselves.
v.t.
21. to make into a ball (sometimes fol. by up ): The children were balling up snow to make a snowman.
22. to wind into balls: to ball cotton.
23. Slang ( vulgar ). to have sexual intercourse with.
v.i.
24. to form or gather into a ball: When the spun sugar balls, the candy has cooked sufficiently.
25. Slang ( vulgar ). to have sexual intercourse.
26. ball the jack , Slang.
a. to act with speed.
b. to stake everything on one attempt.
27. ball up , Slang. to make or become utterly confused; muddle: The records had been all balled up by inefficient file clerks.
[ 1175-1225; ME bal, balle ballaz; cf. ON bollr, OHG bal, ballo, balla, G Ball, D bal; perh. akin to L follis leather bag; see BALLOCK ]
ball 2
/bawl/ , n.
1. a large, usually lavish, formal party featuring social dancing and sometimes given for a particular purpose, as to introduce debutantes or benefit a charitable organization.
2. Informal. a thoroughly good time: Have a ball on your vacation!
[ 1625-35; bal, n. deriv. of baler (now baller ) to dance ballare ballízein to dance ]