ball

See also: bal, Ball, bál, bål, and Bäll

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”) or Old Norse bǫllr (“a ball”) (whence Icelandic böllur (“scrotum; penis; 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

Noun

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.
    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.
    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) The use of 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?)
Synonyms
Derived terms

(solid or hollow sphere):

(testicle):

Translations
in plural - mildly vulgar slang - nonsense
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

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.
Synonyms
Translations

Interjection

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.

Etymology 2

From French bal, from Late Latin ballō.

Noun

ball (plural balls)

  1. A formal dance.
  2. (informal) A very enjoyable time.
    I had a ball at that concert.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Catalan

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -aʎ

Noun

ball m (plural balls)

  1. dance
  2. ball, formal dance

Synonyms

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

Borrowed from French balle (“ball”).

Noun

ball

  1. estimation, score

Declension

References

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

Icelandic

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /palː/
  • Rhymes: -alː

Noun

ball n (genitive singular balls, nominative plural böll)

  1. dance

Declension

Irish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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

Declension

Derived terms

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
ball bhall mball
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

  • "ball" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
  • “ball” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English *beall.

Noun

ball

  1. Alternative form of bal

Etymology 2

Probably from Old French bale.

Noun

ball

  1. Alternative form of bale (“bale”)


Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse bǫllr.

Noun

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)
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French bal.

Noun

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

  1. ball (formal social occasion involving dancing)
Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse bǫllr.

Noun

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)
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French bal.

Noun

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

  1. ball (formal social occasion involving dancing)
Derived terms

References

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

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”)).

Noun

ball m (genitive singular buill, plural buill)

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

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
RadicalLenition
ballbhall
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Derived terms

References

  • 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
  • “ball” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Swedish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbalː/

Adjective

ball

  1. (slang) cool, hip, fun, entertaining
    Det är ballt att åka skateboard.
    It’s cool to ride a skateboard.
    Synonym: cool

Declension

Inflection of ball
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular ball ballare ballast
Neuter singular ballt ballare ballast
Plural balla ballare ballast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 balle ballare ballaste
All balla ballare ballaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
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