ball

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Homophones: bawl (general), Basle (cot-caught merger)
• Rhymes: -ɔːl

From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from an unattested 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 (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. (mathematics) Homologue or analogue of a disk in the Euclidean plane.
   1. (mathematics) In 3-dimensional Euclidean space, the volume bounded by a sphere.
   2. (mathematics) The set of points in a metric space of any number of dimensions lying within a given distance (the radius) of a given point.
   3. (mathematics) The set of points in a topological space lying within some open set containing a given point.
3. (ballistics, firearms) A solid, spherical nonexplosive missile for a cannon, rifle, gun, 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, page 7:

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

      • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 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 […]

      • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 1, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 1:

        This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship.

4. A roundish, protuberant portion of some part of the body.

   the ball of the thumb

   1. (anatomy) The front of the bottom of the foot, just behind the toes.
5. 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!

   • 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. (sports, 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 but whose size, weight, bounciness, colour, etc. differ according to the game
   • 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.

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

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

   4. (cricket, countable) A single delivery by the bowler, six of which make up an over.
   5. (soccer, countable) 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.

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

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

   2. (in the plural) Courage.

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

8. (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.
9. (farriery, historical) A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.
   • 1842, James White, A compendium of the veterinary art:

     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.

10. (slang, countable, uncountable, singular only) One thousand US dollars.
    • 2022 July 22, “Convict Life (Wanna Be Alone)”, YoungBoy Never Broke Again (lyrics)‎:

      I'ma let these niggas have it, go on stage and throw a forty ball

    • 2022 September 16, “Hands on the Floor” (track 4, 0:40 from the start), in Su'Lan (lyrics), Forever Da Gang‎:

      Forty ball all in these leather jeans
      Diamonds studs, I make a bum nigga think twice

    • 2022 November 23, “10PM in ATL” (track 2), in GoldenBoy Countup (lyrics), Chill‎:

      Forty ball on my wrist, nigga, I cashed out on it (Damn)
      Forty bands on my neck, nigga, I maxed out on it (Damn)

    • 2022 November 25, “Gallery” (track 6), in OhGeesy (lyrics), GEEZYWORLD 2‎:

      Dropped a twenty ball in Gallery Department

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

(testicle):

• → Cantonese: 波 (bo¹)
• → Japanese: ボール (bōru)
• → Makah: ba·la
• → Yoruba: bọ́ọ̀lù

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.

   Synonyms: roll up, wad

   to ball cotton

2. (metalworking) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
3. (transitive, US, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse with.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:copulate with

   • 1968, Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem:

     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.’”

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. (university slang) To reject from a fraternity or sorority. (Short for blackball.)
   • 2018 July 12, “'I Thought Frats Were Like Their Movies, and They Totally Are': A Review of 'Alpha Class'”, in College Media Network‎:

     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).

   • 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:

     All of these things are done by pledges in hopes of not getting 'balled' or kicked out.

7. (nonstandard, slang) To play basketball.

   fuck it, we ball

   (Internet?) slang, used to indicate general perseverance

8. (transitive) To punish by affixing a ball and chain.
   • 1865, Camp Sumpter, Andersonville National Historic Site, Rules and Regulations of the Prison:

     any man refusing to do police duty will be punished by the sergts by balling him the rest of the day.

9. (transitive) Of bees: to kill (a wasp) by surrounding it in large numbers so as to raise its body heat.

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 Middle French bal, from Middle French baler (“to dance”), from Old French baller, from Late Latin ballō (“to dance”).

ball (plural balls)

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

   Synonyms: blast, whale of a time

   I had a ball at that concert.

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.