# ball

Pronunciation: say "BAWL" US /bɔl/, UK /bɔːl/

## Noun

1. An object, usually spherical or ovoid, used in sports and games for throwing, catching, kicking, bouncing, hitting or balancing.
   - Simple: A round or egg-shaped object used in sports and games.
   - _The shortstop scooped up the ball and fired it to second._
   - _Tennis balls lose their bounce after a few weeks of regular play._
2. A solid or hollow sphere, or anything formed into a roughly round shape, such as string or yarn wound up (a ball of wool).
   - Simple: A round object, or something rolled or wound into a round shape, like a ball of string.
   - _A ball of mud splattered against the windshield._
   - _The hedgehog rolled itself into a spiky ball._
3. Any sport or game involving a ball; also the playing of the game, literally or figuratively.
   - Simple: A sport or game played with a ball, or the playing of it. Play ball can also mean to work together.
   - _If the union won't play ball, the season could be delayed._
   - _He grew up playing ball on dusty sandlots in Texas._
4. A formal social gathering held for dancing.
   - Simple: A large formal party where people dance.
   - _The embassy hosts a charity ball every December._
   - _She was invited to the governor's inaugural ball._
5. A testicle, one of the two male reproductive glands held in the scrotum. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A testicle, one of the two round sex organs in a bag of skin between a male's legs.
   - _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._
6. In cricket, a single delivery by the bowler; six legal balls, not counting wides and no-balls, make up an over.
   - Simple: In cricket, each single time the bowler bowls the ball to the batter. Six fair ones make an over.
   - _She hit the last ball of the over for six._
   - _The bowler's opening ball swung sharply away from the batter._
10. A vulgar word for courage or nerve. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A rude slang word for courage or bravery.
   - _It takes serious balls to quit a steady job and start your own business._
   - _She had the balls to call out the CEO during the all-hands meeting._
11. A very enjoyable time. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A time when you have a lot of fun.
   - _Everyone had a ball at the reunion, trading stories until midnight._
   - _Take her to the carnival. She'll have a ball._
7. In soccer and field hockey, a pass, often a long or lofted one, kicked or hit toward a teammate or into space.
   - Simple: A kick or hit that sends the ball to a teammate or into space, often over a long distance.
   - _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._
8. A solid projectile fired from a gun or cannon, originally round; in modern military use, an ordinary bullet that does not expand.
   - Simple: A solid bullet or round shot fired from a gun or cannon.
   - _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._
12. The padded, rounded underside of the foot just behind the toes.
   - Simple: The soft, rounded part on the bottom of your foot, just behind your toes.
   - _Sprinters land on the ball of the foot rather than the heel._
   - _High heels shift your weight onto the balls of your feet._
13. In baseball, a pitch outside the strike zone that the batter does not swing at.
   - Simple: In baseball, a pitch that misses the strike zone and that the batter does not swing at.
   - _The pitcher's first three pitches were balls, putting him behind in the count._
   - _With a full count, one more ball would walk the batter._
16. A vulgar word for nonsense or untrue talk. *(slang, UK)*
   - Simple: A rude word for nonsense or silly talk.
   - _His explanation for the missing money was complete balls._
   - _The tabloids print absolute balls about her every week._
17. A competition held within the ball culture of young African-American and Latin American LGBTQ+ people, with prizes given for drag and related performance.
   - Simple: A competition where LGBTQ+ performers, mostly Black and Latino, win prizes for drag and dance.
   - _At the ball, each house walked categories like runway and vogue, and hers took home three trophies._
   - _He walked his first ball in a category celebrating executive realness._
19. The globe; the Earth considered as a sphere.
   - Simple: The Earth, seen as one big round object in space.
   - _From lunar orbit, the astronauts watched the earth rise, a fragile blue ball above the gray horizon._
   - _Somewhere on this big blue ball, someone is watching the sunrise._
9. A rounded mass that stands out from a part of the body, as on the thumb.
   - Simple: A round part that sticks out from somewhere on the body, for example 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._

## Verb

14. To form or wind something into a ball, or (of snow, clay, etc.) to gather into round clinging lumps.
   - Simple: To make something into a ball shape, or to stick together in lumps, like wet snow.
   - _He balled his fists in frustration as the referee waved play on._
   - _Ball the leftover yarn loosely so it doesn't tangle in the drawer._
15. To play basketball. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To play a game of basketball.
   - _Scouts noticed she could really ball after her thirty-point game._
   - _He balled in college, starting at point guard for two seasons._
18. To spend money extravagantly. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To spend a lot of money in a big, showy way.
   - _He won a few grand at the casino and spent the night balling at the club, buying drinks for strangers._
   - _They like to ball whenever the bonus checks clear._
20. A vulgar slang word meaning to have sexual intercourse (with someone). *(US)*
   - Simple: To have sex, or to have sex with someone.
   - _He bragged that he'd balled a famous actress back in the seventies._
   - _They would ball whenever his roommate was out._

## Interjection

21. Shouted to alert players on an adjacent court or field that a loose ball from another game has entered their area, usually signaling that play should pause until it is retrieved.
   - Simple: A shout that warns players on the next court that a loose ball is rolling toward them.
   - _"Ball!" came the call from court three, and the rally stopped at once._
   - _Hearing "Ball!", the doubles players stopped play until the stray ball was rolled back._

## Other meanings

- (noun) In rhythmic gymnastics, the event or routine performed with the ball apparatus.
- (noun) An opportunity to launch the pinball into play; a game typically grants a fixed number, commonly three.
- (verb) To be hip or cool.
- (noun) One thousand US dollars.
- (noun) In mathematics, the set of points lying within a given distance (the radius) of a center point; in three dimensions, the solid bounded by a sphere.
- (verb) To operate a vehicle at high speed.
- (noun) Solid shot or bullets taken together as ammunition, as in the old phrase powder and ball.
- (noun) A padded leather dabber on a wooden grip that early printers pressed onto set type to spread ink, before inking rollers replaced it.
- (noun) A big rounded dose of medicine made for a horse to swallow whole.
- (verb) To work hot iron in a furnace and shape it into rounded lumps that are then passed through rollers.
- (verb) To vote to keep a candidate out of a fraternity or sorority, a shortened form of the word for casting a secret no vote.
- (verb) To chain a heavy iron weight to a prisoner's leg as a punishment.
- (verb) Of honeybees, to crowd tightly around an attacking wasp or hornet in a mass until the heat they generate kills it.
- (interjection) In Australian rules football, a cry from spectators urging the umpire to award a free kick because a tackled player has held the ball illegally.

## Origin

**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'.
**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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ball (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).