DictionaryAI

ball

SayBAWL/bɔl/UK/bɔːl/

Pluralballs

35 meanings of ball

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  1. 1
    sports objectnouncountable
    An object, usually spherical or ovoid, used in sports and games for throwing, catching, kicking, bouncing, hitting or balancing.

    The shortstop scooped up the ball and fired it to second.

    Tennis balls lose their bounce after a few weeks of regular play.

    UsagePut the sport's name first: tennis ball, golf ball. During a game, the ball usually means the one being used: pass the ball.

    Note

    Sometimes the word joins another to form the game's own name, as in football and basketball. Size, weight and often bounce are set by each sport's rules.

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  2. 2
    round shapenouncountable or uncountable
    A solid or hollow sphere, or anything formed into a roughly round shape, such as string or yarn wound up (a ball of wool).

    A ball of mud splattered against the windshield.

    The hedgehog rolled itself into a spiky ball.

    UsageOften a ball of + substance: a ball of mud; and curl up into a ball.

    Similarsphere, globe, orb

  3. 3
    playing sportsnoununcountable
    Any sport or game involving a ball; also the playing of the game, literally or figuratively.

    If the union won't play ball, the season could be delayed.

    He grew up playing ball on dusty sandlots in Texas.

    UsageSaid with no article: play ball (not incorrect: play a ball). Figuratively, play ball means to cooperate.

    Note

    In sports talk it can also stand for a whole career at one level, as in played his college ball at Stanford. In American English it often means baseball in particular.

  4. 4
    formal dancenouncountable
    A formal social gathering held for dancing.

    The embassy hosts a charity ball every December.

    She was invited to the governor's inaugural ball.

    Similardance, gala

    Note

    A ball is grander than a dance, so the word suits occasions with dress codes and hosts: a charity ball, an inaugural ball. It comes from French bal, from a verb meaning to dance, so it is a different word from the ball used in games that happens to share its spelling. The informal phrase have a ball grows out of it.

  5. 5
    testiclenounslangvulgarcountable
    A testicle, one of the two male reproductive glands held in the scrotum.

    He jokes that losing a ball to cancer hasn't slowed him down one bit.

    His friends winced when the toddler climbing on him planted a knee right in his balls.

    UsageMostly plural: a kick in the balls. Use testicles with a doctor or in formal writing.

    Similartesticle

  6. 6
    cricket deliverynouncountable
    In cricket, a single delivery by the bowler; six legal balls, not counting wides and no-balls, make up an over.

    She hit the last ball of the over for six.

    The bowler's opening ball swung sharply away from the batter.

    Similardelivery

    Note

    Cricket counts its play in balls: six legal ones make an over, after which bowling switches to the other end. Wides and no-balls do not count toward the six and must be bowled again, so an over can take more than six deliveries. Ball and delivery mean the same thing here, but ball is the word in set phrases like the last ball of the over.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • An over consists of six valid balls, and successive overs are bowled from opposite ends. lords.org
    • Wides and no-balls do not count towards the six valid balls; additional deliveries are therefore needed to complete the over. lords.org
  7. 7
    long kicknouncountable
    In soccer and field hockey, a pass, often a long or lofted one, kicked or hit toward a teammate or into space.

    The midfielder lofted a hopeful ball into the box for anyone in white to attack.

    Their game plan relied on long balls over the top rather than short passing.

    Note

    Originally soccer's word, and commentators judge it by adjective: a lovely ball, a speculative ball, a hopeful ball. It suits deliveries struck into space for someone to run onto, though a well-aimed ball to one teammate counts too. Field hockey uses it the same way, for a ball fired into the area from distance.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The sense of ball meaning a delivery toward teammates originated in soccer. en.wiktionary.org
  8. 8
    cannon shotnouncountable
    A solid projectile fired from a gun or cannon, originally round; in modern military use, an ordinary bullet that does not expand.

    A single ball from the warship's cannon smashed through the fort's wooden gate.

    Archaeologists working the battlefield recovered hundreds of lead balls fired from the defenders' muskets.

    Similarshot, bullet

    Note

    Older military writing often uses the word as a mass noun, with no article: troops were issued powder and ball, and a musket was loaded with ball. It also sits inside the compounds cannonball and musket ball. The name outlived the round shape, too. The jacketed military bullet is still called ball, so in firearms talk the word does not always promise a sphere.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

    • Older writing uses ball as an uncountable noun for bullets collectively. en.wiktionary.org
    • Troops were supplied with ammunition described as powder and ball. tile.loc.gov
    • Historical accounts describe muskets as loaded with ball. gutenberg.org
    • Cannonball contains ball as a compound element referring to the projectile. en.wiktionary.org
    • Musket ball is a compound referring to a spherical firearm projectile. en.wiktionary.org
    • Ball continued to denote bullets after they ceased to be spherical. en.wikipedia.org
    • Full metal jacket military bullets are called ball ammunition. nij.ojp.gov

    The garrison was down to its last barrels of powder and ball.

    Each man loaded with ball and waited for the order to fire.

  9. 9
    nouncountable or uncountable
    A rounded mass that stands out from a part of the body, as on the thumb.

    The massage therapist worked the ball of her thumb into the knot in his shoulder.

    The potter smoothed the rim of the bowl with the balls of her thumbs.

    UsageMostly the ball of + body part: the ball of the thumb.

    Note

    One case is so familiar that it has a meaning of its own: the ball of the foot, the spot just behind the toes. Elsewhere the word picks out the rounded part of the thumb, as when someone presses a doorbell with the ball of the thumb. The image is the round shape of the round-object meaning.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of ball apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–3, 5–10, 12–16, 18–21

From Middle English bal, from an unattested Old English *beall or from Old Norse bǫllr ('a ball'), both from Proto-Germanic *balluz, and ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to blow, inflate, swell'. It is related to 'balloon' and 'bale'.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 8 facts

Meanings 4, 11, 17

Late Latin ballō ("to dance") gave Old French baller and then Middle French baler ("to dance"), whose noun bal is the source of the English word.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

  • Late Latin ballō meant “to dance” and gave Old French baller. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old French baller gave Middle French baler, meaning “to dance”. en.wiktionary.org
  • The noun bal derived from the French verb and is the source of English ball in the dance sense. en.wiktionary.org