ball

• enPR: bôl, IPA^(key): /bɔːl/
• (Canada, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /bɑl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːl
• Homophone: bawl

From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”) or Old Norse bǫllr (“a ball”), both from Proto-Germanic *balluz, *ballô (“ball”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰoln- (“bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, inflate, swell”). Cognate with Old Saxon ball, Dutch bal, Old High German bal, ballo (German Ball (“ball”); Ballen (“bale”)). Related forms in Romance are borrowings from Germanic. See also balloon, bale.

A basketball

ball (plural balls)

1. A solid or hollow sphere, or part thereof.

   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. (ballistics) A solid, spherical nonexplosive missile for a cannon, etc.
      1. A jacketed non-expanding bullet, typically of military origin.
      2. (uncountable, obsolete) Such bullets collectively.
         • 1659, Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, England’s Confusion, London, p. 7,

           […] the Good Old Cause, which, as they seemed to represent it, smelt of Gunpowder and ball […]

         • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, London: W. Taylor, p. 294,

           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.

         • 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 5, p. 148,

           […] some headstrong Maroons were using a soldier of Captain Craskell’s ill, and compelling him to write to his commander, that it was too late to do any thing good, and that they wanted nothing, having got plenty of powder and ball […]

   3. A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body.

      the ball of the thumb;   the ball of the foot

   4. (anatomy) The front of the bottom of the foot, just behind the toes.
   5. The globe; the earthly sphere.
      • (Can we date this quote?) Joseph Addison

        Move round the dark terrestrial ball.

      • 1717, Alexander Pope, "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady"

        Thus, if eternal Justice rules the ball, / Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall;

   6. (mathematics) The set of points in a metric space lying within a given distance (the radius) of a given point; specifically, the homologue of the disk in a Euclidean space of any number of dimensions.
   7. (mathematics, more generally) The set of points in a topological space lying within some open set containing a given point; the analogue of the disk in a Euclidean space.
   8. An object, generally spherical, used for playing games.
      • 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

        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.

      • 2011 October 2, Aled Williams, “Swansea 2-0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport Wales:

        Graham secured victory with five minutes left, coolly lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic.

2. (sports) A round or ellipsoidal object.
   1. Any simple game involving a ball.

      The children were playing ball on the beach.

      The children were playing ball in the garden.

   2. (baseball) A pitch that falls outside of the strike zone.
   3. (pinball) An opportunity to launch the pinball into play.

      If you get to a million points, you get another ball.

   4. (cricket) A single delivery by the bowler, six of which make up an over.
   5. (soccer) A pass; a kick of the football towards a teammate.
      • 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1-0 Bolton”, in BBC:

        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.

3. (mildly vulgar, slang, usually in the plural) A testicle.
   1. Nonsense.

      That’s a load of balls, and you know it!

   2. Courage.

      I doubt he’s got the balls to tell him off.

4. (printing, 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.
5. (farriery, historical) A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of White to this entry?)

• sphere
• globe
• (testicle): See Thesaurus:testicle
• (nonsense): See Thesaurus:nonsense
• (courage): chutzpah, guts, nerve

(solid or hollow sphere):

(testicle):

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

2. (metalworking) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
3. (transitive, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse with.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.

   The horse balls; the snow balls.

5. (slang, usually in present participle) To be hip or cool.
6. (nonstandard, slang) To play basketball.

• (form into a ball): roll up, wad
• (sexual intercourse): (vulgar) bonk, fuck, lay, screw, shag (British)

ball

1. (Australian rules football) An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player. This is heard almost any time an opposition player is tackled, without regard to whether the rules about "prior opportunity" to dispose of the ball are fulfilled.
   • 2007, “Laws Of The Afl 2007”, in AFL Sydney Swans Rules Zone‎, archived from the original on March 22, 2008:

     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.

From French bal, from Late Latin ballō.

ball (plural balls)

1. A formal dance.
2. (informal) A very enjoyable time.

   I had a ball at that concert.

• (very enjoyable time): blast, whale of a time

• ballad
• ballade

• Rhymes: -aʎ

ball m (plural balls)

1. dance
2. ball, formal dance

• dansa

• ballar

Borrowed from French balle (“ball”).

ball

1. estimation, score

• Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎, Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /palː/
• Rhymes: -alː

ball n (genitive singular balls, nominative plural böll)

1. dance

From Old Irish ball, from Proto-Celtic *ballo-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, swell, inflate”); compare English ball, Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”).

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /bˠəul̪ˠ/
• (Galway) IPA^(key): /bˠɑːl̪ˠ/
• (Mayo) IPA^(key): /bˠal̪ˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /bˠal̪ˠ/

ball m (genitive singular baill, nominative plural baill)

1. (anatomy) organ
2. component part
3. member
4. article
5. spot, place
6. spot, mark
7. (sets) element, member

• "ball" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• C. Marstrander, E. G. Quin et al., editors (1913–76), “ball”, in Dictionary of the Irish Language: Based Mainly on Old and Middle Irish Materials, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, →ISBN

From Old English *beall.

ball

1. Alternative form of bal

Probably from Old French bale.

ball

1. Alternative form of bale (“bale”)

From Old Norse bǫllr.

ball m (definite singular ballen, indefinite plural baller, definite plural ballene)

1. ball (solid or hollow sphere)
2. ball (object, usually spherical, used for playing games)

Borrowed from French bal.

ball n (definite singular ballet, indefinite plural ball or baller, definite plural balla or ballene)

1. ball (formal social occasion involving dancing)

• ballkjole
• ballsal

• “ball” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse bǫllr.

ball m (definite singular ballen, indefinite plural ballar, definite plural ballane)

1. a ball (solid or hollow sphere)
2. a ball (object, usually spherical, used for playing games)

Borrowed from French bal.

ball n (definite singular ballet, indefinite plural ball, definite plural balla)

1. ball (formal social occasion involving dancing)

• ballkjole
• ballsal

• “ball” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Old Irish ball m (“limb, member, organ; member of community; part, portion, piece; article, object; place, spot; passage (of a book); spot, mark, blemish”) (compare Irish ball), from Proto-Celtic *ballo-, from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- (“to blow, swell, inflate”) (compare English ball, Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”)).

ball m (genitive singular buill, plural buill)

1. ball
2. member (of a group)
3. article, item
4. (anatomy) organ; limb

• Ball Pàrlamaid, BP (“Member of Parliament, MP”)
• ballrachd (“membership”)
• BPA

• Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• C. Marstrander, E. G. Quin et al., editors (1913–76), “ball”, in Dictionary of the Irish Language: Based Mainly on Old and Middle Irish Materials, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /ˈbalː/

ball

1. (slang) cool, hip, fun, entertaining

   Det är ballt att åka skateboard.

   It’s cool to ride a skateboard.

   Synonym: cool