ball

ball
1 noun (C)
1 TO PLAY WITH a round object that is thrown, kicked, or hit in a game or sport: Bounce the ball to me. | a tennis ball
2 ROUND SHAPE something formed or rolled into a round shape: a ball of string | Shape the dough into balls.
3 the ball of the foot/hand/thumb the rounded part of the foot at the base of the toe, rounded part of the hand at the base of the thumb or fingers
-see also: eyeball 1 (1)
4 a fast/good/curved etc ball a ball that is thrown, hit, or kicked fast etc in a game or sport: He hit a long ball to right field.
5 no ball a ball that is thrown too high, low etc towards someone trying to hit it, in the games of cricket (2) or rounders (2)
6 BASEBALL AmE a ball thrown in baseball that a player is not expected to hit because it is not within the correct area
7 BULLET a round bullet fired from a type of gun that was used in the past
8 on the ball informal thinking or acting quickly: We need an assistant who's really on the ball.
9 set/start the ball rolling to begin an activity or event or make sure it continues: Let's start the ball rolling with a few suggestions.
10 the ball is in your court it is your turn to take action or to reply: I've sent him a letter, now the ball's in his court.
11 DANCE a large formal occasion at which people dance
12 have a ball informal to have a very good time: We had a ball at the party last night.
13 balls (plural)
a) testicles
b) taboo spoken courage or determination: It's not going to be easy. It'll take fight. Guts. Balls.
c) BrE taboo spoken something that is stupid or wrong; nonsense: That's a load of balls!
14 a ball of fire someone who has a lot of energy and is active and successful
15 the whole ball of wax AmE informal the whole thing; everything
16 ball-buster/ball-breaker AmE slang
a) a problem that is very difficult to deal with
b) an offensive word for a woman who uses her authority over men
-see also: balls 1, not play ball play1 (24) 2 verb (T)
1 also ball up to form something into a small round shape so that it takes up less space
2 AmE spoken taboo to have sex with a woman
ball sth up phrasal verb AmE spoken to make a situation confused or difficult to deal with: No, we're not going now, Lindsay's managed to ball everything up. -see also: balls-up

Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 2004.

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  • Ball — (b[add]l), n. [OE. bal, balle; akin to OHG. balla, palla, G. ball, Icel. b[ o]llr, ball; cf. F. balle. Cf. 1st {Bale}, n., {Pallmall}.] 1. Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow. [1913 Webster]… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ball — Ⅰ. ball [1] ► NOUN 1) a solid or hollow sphere, especially one that is kicked, thrown, or hit in a game. 2) a single throw or kick of the ball in a game. 3) N. Amer. a game played with a ball, especially baseball. ► VERB ▪ squeeze or form into a… …   English terms dictionary

  • ball — ball; ball·er; ball·ing; ball·iz·ing; base·ball; bee·ball; em·ball; high·ball·er; knuck·le·ball·er; spit·ball·er; bucky·ball; foos·ball; scuzz·ball; track·ball; …   English syllables

  • Ball — Ball. Ein gesellschaftlicher Tanzverein. Man leitet diesen Ausdruck von dem italienischen ballare tanzen, ballo Tanzgesellschaft, und dem französischen bal ab, was allerdings wahrscheinlicher ist als die Erklärung Nachtigall s, (in seinen… …   Damen Conversations Lexikon

  • ball — ball1 [bôl] n. [ME bal < OE * beallu < IE base * bhel , to swell > BOWL1, BLADDER, ON bǫllr, OHG balla, Gr phallos, L follis & flare] 1. any round, or spherical, object; sphere; globe 2. a planet or star, esp. the earth …   English World dictionary

  • BALL — (Biochemical Algorithms Library) is a C++ library containing common algorithms used in biochemistry and bioinformatics. The library also has Python bindings. Among the supported systems are Linux, Solaris, Microsoft Windows. The library can be… …   Wikipedia

  • Ball — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda El término ball puede hacer referencia a: Ball, el primer juego de Game Watch. bola mala, expresión utilizada en béisbol. la abreviatura botánica para John Ball. Ball, un álbum de la banda Iron Butterfly. Obtenido de …   Wikipedia Español

  • BALL (J.) — BALL JOHN (mort en 1381) La plupart des chroniques, dont celle de Froissart, présentent John Ball comme l’un des grands responsables du soulèvement des paysans et des artisans en Angleterre en 1381. Peut être, disciple de John Wyclif, aurait il… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Ball — Ball: Ball   общепринятое сокращение (обозначение) имени ботаника, которое добавляется к научным (латинским) названиям некоторых таксонов ботанической номенклатуры и указывает на то, что автором этих наименований является Болл, Джон… …   Википедия

  • Ball — Ball, n. [F. bal, fr. OF. baler to dance, fr. LL. ballare. Of uncertain origin; cf. Gr. ba llein to toss or throw, or pa llein, pa llesqai, to leap, bound, balli zein to dance, jump about; or cf. 1st {Ball}, n.] 1. A social assembly for the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Ball — Ball, v. t. 1. (Metal.) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling. [1913 Webster] 2. To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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