ball
A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
Noun 4 meanings
A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
Homologue or analogue of a disk in the Euclidean plane.
A solid, spherical nonexplosive missile for a cannon, rifle, gun, etc.
A roundish, protuberant portion of some part of the body.
“the ball of the thumb”
Verb 4 meanings
To form or wind into a ball.
“to ball cotton”
To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
To gather balls which cling to the feet or skis, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.
“the horse balls”
To reject from a fraternity or sorority. (Ellipsis of blackball).
Interjection 2 meanings
An exclamation to inform players on an adjacent playing area that a loose ball from another game has entered their playing area; typically implies that play should be paused until the ball has been retrieved.
An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player.
Etymology
From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from an unattested Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz, *ballô (“ball”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰol-n- (“ball, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, inflate, swell”).
Similar and opposite words
BALL at a glance
BALL has 4 letters and scores 6 points in Scrabble (B 3 + A 1 + L 1 + L 1) and 9 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #923 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with ball
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