ball

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
“
Should two players be hit by one throw of the ball, the first one touched by the ball is the one to go out.

View all »
Definitions (118)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (21)

  1. noun A spherical object or entity: a steel ball.
  2. noun A spherical or almost spherical body: a ball of flame.
  3. noun Sports Any of various rounded, movable objects used in various athletic activities and games.
18 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (80)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (13)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Fred's sudden remembrance of how to hit the ball has been a big bonus as well. —  Cricket365
  • Moving the ball might be accomplished with a shoe hung on the end of a string made of strips of clothing, which you use to "kick" the ball into the right place. —  Find Free Articles - ArticlesBase
  • Another dilemma that Gillingham faced while monopolising the ball was the opportunities they presented to Villa to counter as they emptied midfield (see shaded area in diagram). —  Blogposts | guardian.co.uk
  • Once the ball is autographed, it will be mailed to the guest.
  • Also named to the list in 2005, the ball is the first of the quadrennial black-tie celebrations of the 2009 inaugural ball season. —  Louisville Business News - Local Louisville News | Business First of Louisville
More examples »
 

Tags

ball hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Words tagged ball

Stats

This word has been looked up 162 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

piece ·  ring ·  box ·  shoot ·  shell ·  sheet ·  stone ·  gun ·  mass ·  plate ·  roll ·  one

Used in the same contextWord Family

ball:   balls ·  balling ·  balled

Etymologies (6)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English bal, probably from Old English *beall; see bhel-2 in Indo-European roots.
  2. French bal, from Old French, from baller, to dance, from Late Latin ballāre, from Greek ballizein; see gwelə- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Early modern English also balle, sometimes baule, bawle, from Middle English bal, ball, balle, either from Icelandic (see below) or from Anglo-Saxon *beallu or *bealla (not found, but evidenced by the diminutive bealluc, English ballock, literally a little ball: see ballock) = Dutch bal = Flemish bal, Middle Low German bal, Low German ball, a ball, = Old High German *bal, masculine, ballo, pallo, masculine, balla, palla, feminine, Middle High German bal, balle, masculine, German ball, masculine, a ball, ballen, masculine, a bale, package, = Icelandic böllr = Norwegian ball, ball, = Swedish boll, ball, bal, bale, = Danish bal, billiard-ball, balde, ball (in anatomy), balle, bale, bold, playing-ball; not found in Gothic (Moesogothic) Hence (from Old High German) Middle Latin balla, palla, bala, a ball, a bale, later Italian balla, palla, a ball (now distinguished: balla, a bale, palla, a ball), Spanish Portuguese Provencal bala, a ball, a bale. = French balle, Old French balle, bale, a ball, a bale, later D. baal = Old Flemish bale, Flemish bal, Middle Low German bale = Middle English bale, English bale, properly a round bundle: see bale. apparently a native Teutonic word, akin to boll, bowl, q. v., and to L. follis, a wind-bag, an inflated ball for playing, later ult. English fool: see fool and follicle, etc. The Greek πἀλλα, a ball, is apparently a different word, but it may be the source of Middle Latin and Italian palla. See balloon, ballot.
  2. from ball, n.
  3. First in the 17th century, = D. Swedish Danish bal = German ball, from French bal = Provencal bal = Spanish Portuguese baile = Italian ballo (Middle Latin ballus), dancing, a dance; from the verb, French baller, Old French baler (later Middle English balen, rare) = Provencal ballar = Spanish Portuguese bailar = Italian ballare, from Late Latin ballare, dance, from Greek (in Sicily and Italy) βαλλίζειν, dance, jump about, apparently from βάλλειν, throw. Hence ballad, ballet.
  4. Not found in Middle English, but perhaps existent, as the possible source of the adjective ballede, balled, balde, English bald, q. v., and of ballard, q. v.; from Welsh bal, having a white streak on the forehead, as a horse, bali, a white streak, = Breton bal, a white mark on an animal's face, = Irish Gaelic bal, a spot, mark, freckle. Cf. Greek φαλός, shining, white, φαλιός, white, φαλαρός, φάλαρος, having a spot of white, as a dog, φαλακρός, bald-headed, perhaps ult. connected with English bale, a fire. Hence prob. bald and ballard.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/bɔl/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a day.

Recently looked up

ender · youngster · Maualuga · dvr · onus

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

pew · deadpool · sad panda · nom nom nom · woobie