ball

Noun (1)

ball (countable and uncountable, plural balls)

1. A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
   • a ball of spittle; a fecal ball
   1. A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape.
      • a ball of wool; a ball of twine
   2. A food preparation formed into a spherical shape.
      • This dish is served with balls of potato.
2. In 3-dimensional Euclidean space, the volume bounded by a sphere.
3. The set of points in a metric space of any number of dimensions lying within a given distance (the radius) of a given point.
4. The set of points in a topological space lying within some open set containing a given point.
5. A jacketed non-expanding bullet, typically of military origin.
6. (obsolete, uncountable) Such bullets collectively.
   • […] the Good Old Cause, which, as they seemed to represent it, smelt of Gunpowder and ball […]1659, Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, England’s Confusion, London, page 7
   • I gave each of them a Musket with a Firelock on it, and about eight Charges of Powder and Ball, charging them to be very good Husbands of both, and not to use either of them but upon urgent Occasion.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 294
7. A roundish, protuberant portion of some part of the body.
   • the ball of the thumb
   1. The front of the bottom of the foot, just behind the toes.
8. The globe; the earthly sphere.
   • c. 1712', Joseph Addison, Ode to the Creator of the World
     What, though in solemn Silence, all / Move round the dark terrestrial Ball!
   • Thus, if eternal Justice rules the ball, / Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall;1717, Alexander Pope, Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady
9. (countable) An object that is the focus of many sports and games, in which it may be thrown, caught, kicked, bounced, rolled, chased, retrieved, hit with an instrument, spun, etc., usually roughly spherical or ovoid but whose size, weight, bounciness, colour, etc. differ according to the game
   • Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
   • Graham secured victory with five minutes left, coolly lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic.2011 October 2, Aled Williams, “Swansea 2-0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport Wales
   1. (uncountable) Any sport or game involving a ball; its play, literally or figuratively.
      • The children were playing ball on the beach.
      • George played his college ball at Stanford.
   2. (countable) A pitch that falls outside of the strike zone.
   3. (countable, pinball) An opportunity to launch the pinball into play.
      • If you get to a million points, you get another ball.
   4. (countable) A single delivery by the bowler, six of which make up an over.
   5. (countable) a kick (or hit in e.g. field hockey) of the ball towards where one or more teammates is expected to be. (Distinguished from a pass by a longer distance travelled or less specific target point.)
      • After Essien's poor attempt flew into the stands, Rodrigo Moreno—Bolton's on-loan winger from Benfica who was making his full Premier League debut—nearly exposed the Blues with a lovely ball for Johan Elmander, but it just skipped away from his team-mate's toes.2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1-0 Bolton”, in BBC
      • Shetland increased the lead in the 22nd minute when Kirkness shot first time from a ball that was fired into the area from outside the 25-metre line.2014 October 21, Jim Tait, “Hockey girls through to next round”, in Shetland Times, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2024
   6. (countable, rhythmic gymnastics) An apparatus.
   7. (metonymically, rhythmic gymnastics) An apparatus program with a ball.
10. (mildly, plural-normally, slang, vulgar) A testicle.
    • Hitler has only got one ball, / Göring has two but very small, / Himmler is rather sim'lar, / But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all.c. 1939, anonymous author, “Hitler Has Only Got One Ball”
    1. (in plural, mildly, plural-normally, slang, vulgar) Nonsense.
       • That’s a load of balls, and you know it!
    2. (in plural, mildly, plural-normally, slang, vulgar) Courage.
       • I doubt he’s got the balls to tell you off.
11. (historical) A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the roller.
12. (historical) A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.
    • The laxative alterative has not this advantage, the aloes, of which it is composed, being extremely bitter, and therefore requiring to be given in the form of a ball.1842, James White, A compendium of the veterinary art
13. (singular, singular-only, slang) One thousand US dollars.
    • I'ma let these niggas have it, go on stage and throw a forty ball2022 July 22, “Convict Life (Wanna Be Alone)”, YoungBoy Never Broke Again (lyrics)
    • Forty ball all in these leather jeans
      Diamonds studs, I make a bum nigga think twice2022 September 16, “Hands on the Floor” (track 4, 0:40 from the start), in Su'Lan (lyrics), Forever Da Gang

Verb

ball (third-person singular simple present balls, present participle balling, simple past and past participle balled)

1. (transitive) To form or wind into a ball.
   • to ball cotton
   • She balled her fists.

   Synonyms:

   roll up, wad

2. To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
3. (US, intransitive, transitive, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse (with).
   • Max says it works both ways. “I mean if she comes in and tells me she wants to ball Don, maybe, I say ‘O.K., baby, it's your trip.’”1968, Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem
   • Jefferson Fuck Poland wrote of three other anti-free-sex influences: […]heroin use (“Junkies rarely ball, unless for cash to buy junk. Heroin provides an orgasmic feeling of its own while suppressing sexual desire”); […].1991, Timothy Miller, quoting Jefferson Poland, The hippies and American values, University of Tennessee Press, →ISBN, page 69

   Synonyms:

   Formal terms, bed, coit, coitize, dight, enjoy, feague, go in unto, go to bed with, have

4. (ambitransitive) To gather balls which cling to the feet or skis, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.
   • the horse balls
   • the snow balls
5. (participle, present, regional, slang) To be hip or cool.
6. (university slang) To reject from a fraternity or sorority. (Ellipsis of blackball).
   • This highlights the issue of toxic masculinity in fraternities: a pledge only becomes a man, or a brother, by enduring as much abuse as he can and by proving his competence with girls. If he cannot, he is not only "balled" but seen as a "faggot" (this is a term directly from the work).2018 July 12, “'I Thought Frats Were Like Their Movies, and They Totally Are': A Review of 'Alpha Class'”, in College Media Network
   • All of these things are done by pledges in hopes of not getting 'balled' or kicked out.2019 November 25, Annie Martin, “UCF frat suspended after report of pledges being forced to smoke marijuana, drink 'entire bottles' of alcohol”, in Orlando Sentinel
7. (slang) To play basketball.
   • fuck it, we ball
8. (Internet) (slang) Used to indicate general perseverance.
9. (African-American Vernacular) To spend money extravagantly.
10. (transitive) To punish by affixing a ball and chain.
    • any man refusing to do police duty will be punished by the sergts by balling him the rest of the day.1865, Camp Sumpter, Andersonville National Historic Site, Rules and Regulations of the Prison
11. (transitive) Of bees: to kill (a wasp) by surrounding it in large numbers so as to raise its body heat.
12. (intransitive) To operate (a vehicle) at high speed (whether balls-out, balls to the wall, or ballin' the jack, each of which comes ultimately from ball via a different route).
    • Near-synonym: haul ass
    • Hang back for a bit — that Peterbilt in the left lane is really ballin’ and I'd rather not be real close to him.

    Synonyms:

    haul ass

Interjection

1. An exclamation to inform players on an adjacent playing area that a loose ball from another game has entered their playing area; typically implies that play should be paused until the ball has been retrieved.
2. (Australian rules football) An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player.
   • A good tackle (and some bad ones) will bring a cry of "Ball!" from the crowd – a plea for a holding the ball free kick.2007, “Laws Of The Afl 2007”, in AFL Sydney Swans Rules Zone, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2008

Noun (2)

ball (plural balls)

1. A formal dance.
   • We still have pictures from the ball we had in August 2008.
2. (informal) A very enjoyable time.
   • I had a ball at that concert.

   Synonyms:

   blast, whale of a time

3. A competitive event among young African-American and Latin American LGBTQ+ people in which prizes are awarded for drag and similar performances. See ball culture.

Proper noun capitalized: Ball

Ball

1. An English surname.
2. A town in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States.
3. A hamlet in Egloshayle parish, on the eastern outskirts of Wadebridge, Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SX0073).