basketball

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A game played between two teams of five players each, the object being to throw a ball through an elevated basket on the opponent's side of a rectangular court. Players may move the ball by dribbling or passing with the hands.
2. n. The inflated, spherical ball used in this game.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A game played with a ball resembling a foot-ball, in which the object is to throw the ball into one of two baskets (the goals) placed at opposite ends of the field. It is played by any number of persons (five or nine are preferred for championship games) upon a field (out of doors or within) of any convenient size. The rules are designed especially to eliminate the roughness of foot-ball. A well-defined line is marked around the floor or field, with the side-boundaries at least 3 feet from the wall or fence and the end-boundaries directly below the surface against which the goal is placed. The goals consist of baskets or hammock-nets of cords suspended from metal rings of 18 inches' inside diameter. These rings are placed 10 feet above the ground in the middle of the end-lines. The inside rim is 6 inches from the surface of a flat perpendicular screen, or very rigid surface, measuring at least 6 feet horizontally by 4 feet vertically. If a screen is used, it should not extend more than one foot below the upper edge of the goal. Teams should consist of 5 persons, and the officials are the referee, 2 umpires, a scorer, and a timekeeper. The ball is round, and consists of a rubber bladder covered with bather not less than 30 nor more than 32 inches in circumference and weighing not less than 18 nor more than 20 ounces. It should be tightly inflated. The referee's duties are to decide when the ball is in play, to whom it belongs, and when a goal has been made; to approve of the timekeeper and scorer before the game begins; and, when the ball is put in play, to toss it up in a plane at right angles to the side-lines, so that it will drop near the center of the field, which is indicated by a conspicuous mark. This is done at the opening of the game, at the beginning of the second half, and after each goal. After the referee puts the ball in play in the center, it must be first touched by one of the center players who shall have been previously indicated to the umpire. The game then continues for 20 minutes, when there is an intermission of 10 minutes and the teams change goals. The umpires call all fouls, and a foul called by one shall not be questioned by the other. A goal is made by throwing the ball fairly, so that it lands in the basket. A goal made from the field counts 2 points and a goal from a foul counts 1 point. The game is decided by the winning of the most points in 40 minutes' play consisting of two 20-minute halves with an intermission of 10 minutes. In case of a tie the game continues until either side has made two additional points. When a foul has been made the opposite side has a free throw for the goal at a distance of 15 feet from a point on the floor directly beneath the center of the goal. No player shall stand nearer than 6 feet to the thrower, nor in a lane 6 feet wide from the thrower to the goal, nor interfere with the ball until after it reaches the goal. A player is not allowed to carry the ball in his hands, but must play it from the spot on which he catches it. He can bat the ball with one hand. There should be no taking hold of nor pushing of an opponent, and the arms may not be used in any way to interfere with the player who has not the ball. There may be no shouldering, tripping, striking, kicking, hacking, or roughness of any kind. When the ball has cone out of bounds the player first touching it returns it to the field of play. He may throw the ball in any direction into the field of play from any spot, outside of bounds, on a line drawn at right angles to the boundary-line at a point where the ball crossed it. The game was invented by James Naismith.

Wiktionary

1. n. sports, uncountable A sport in which two opposing teams of five players strive to put a ball through a hoop.
2. n. basketball, countable The particular kind of ball used in the sport of basketball.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A ball game, usually played indoors in an area called the basketball court, in which two opposing teams of five players each contest with each other to toss a large inflated ball (the basketball) into opposite goals (baskets) resembling baskets, each typically a cylindrical mesh suspended from a circular rim which is held ten feet above the court. A goal scored by passing the basketball through the basket may count from one to three points, depending on the situation in which it was thrown.
2. n. The inflatable ball used in the game of basketball.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop
2. n. an inflated ball used in playing basketball