basketballs

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of basketball.

   The storage closet held dozens of basketballs in worn mesh bags.

   Two basketballs bounced in opposite directions after the collision.

   Note

   Only the ball takes a plural. The sport itself is an uncountable noun, so a storage closet holds basketballs, but people play basketball, never basketballs. To count games or seasons of the sport, English uses a counting noun instead (basketball games, basketball seasons) and keeps the word singular as a modifier in front of it.

2. 2
   verbcolloquial

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of basketball.

   My cousin basketballs at the community court after every shift.

   Whenever the weather clears, she basketballs until the streetlights come on.

   Note

   A casual verb with the ordinary third-person -s: she basketballs, they basketball. Without an object it means playing the game. With an object it means tossing something the way a player takes a shot, as when someone basketballs a wad of paper into the bin. Both uses are informal, and the spelling is identical to the plural of the ball, so the sentence around it decides which one is meant.

   He basketballs the crumpled receipt straight into the recycling bin.

   She basketballs her keys onto the couch the moment she gets home.

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