ball

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See also Ball, bal, bál, bål, and baḻ

Contents

English [edit]

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Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”) or Old Norse bǫllr (“a ball”) (whence the 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.

Noun [edit]

A basketball

ball (plural balls)

  1. A solid or hollow sphere.
  2. An object, generally spherical, used for playing games.
    • 2011 October 2, Aled Williams, “Swansea 2 - 0 Stoke”, BBC Sport Wales:
      Graham secured victory with five minutes left, coolly lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic.
  3. A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape.
    ball of wool
  4. Any simple game involving a ball.
    The children were playing ball on the beach.
    The children were playing ball in the garden.
  5. (baseball) A pitch that falls outside of the strike zone.
  6. (pinball) An opportunity to launch the pinball into play.
    If you get to a million points, you get another ball.
  7. (ballistics) A solid, spherical nonexplosive missile for a cannon, etc.
  8. (ballistics) A jacketed non-expanding bullet, typically of military origin.
  9. (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.
  10. (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.
  11. (mildly vulgar, slang, usually in plural) A testicle.
    1. (mildly vulgar, slang, in the plural) Nonsense.
      That’s a load of balls, and you know it! — Synonyms — See Wikisaurus:nonsense
    2. (mildly vulgar, slang, in the plural) Courage.
      I doubt he’s got the balls to tell him off.
  12. (cricket) A single delivery by the bowler, six of which make up an over.
  13. (soccer) A pass; a kick of the football towards a teammate.
    • 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, 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.
  14. (anatomy) The front of the bottom of the foot, just behind the toes.
  15. (dance) A formal dance.
Synonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
solid or hollow sphere
testicle
Translations [edit]
solid or hollow sphere
object, generally spherical, used for playing games
quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape
baseball: a pitch that falls outside the strike zone
pinball: an opportunity to launch the ball into play
ballistics: a solid nonexplosive missile
mathematics: set of points in a metric space lying within a given distance of a given point
testicle
in plural - mildly vulgar slang - nonsense
in plural — slang — courage
cricket: a single delivery
(anatomyball): ball of a foot
(danceball) A formal dance
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 Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb [edit]

ball (third-person singular simple present balls, present participle balling, simple past and past participle balled)

  1. (transitive, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse with.
  2. (slang, usually in present participle) To be hip or cool.
Synonyms [edit]
Translations [edit]
vulgar slang: have sexual intercourse with

Interjection [edit]

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: 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. — AFL Sydney Swans Rules Zone [1]

Etymology 2 [edit]

From French bal, from Late Latin ballare.

Noun [edit]

ball (plural balls)

  1. A formal dance.
  2. (informal) A very enjoyable time.
    I had a ball at that concert
Synonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
formal dance
colloquial: a very enjoyable time

Catalan [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

ball m (plural balls)

  1. dance
  2. ball, formal dance

Synonyms [edit]

Related terms [edit]

Crimean Tatar [edit]

Etymology [edit]

French balle (“ball”).

Noun [edit]

ball

  1. estimation, score

Declension [edit]

    declension of ball
nominative ball
genitive ballnıñ
dative ballğa
accusative ballnı
locative ballda
ablative balldan

References [edit]

  • Useinov & Mireev Dictionary, Simferopol, Dolya, 2002 [2]

Icelandic [edit]

Noun [edit]

ball n (genitive singular balls, plural böll)

  1. dance

Irish [edit]

Etymology [edit]

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

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

ball m (genitive baill, nominative plural baill)

  1. limb
  2. member

Declension [edit]

Declension of ball

First declension

Bare forms:

Case Singular Plural
Nominative ball baill
Vocative a bhaill a bhalla
Genitive baill ball
Dative ball baill

Forms with the definite article:

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an ball na baill
Genitive an bhaill na mball
Dative leis an mball

don bhall

 leis na baill

Mutation [edit]

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.

Norwegian [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old Norse bǫllr.

Noun [edit]

ball m

  1. ball (solid or hollow sphere)

Inflection [edit]

    Inflection of ball
indefinite singular definite singular indefinite plural definite plural
Bokmål m ball ballen baller ballene
Nynorsk m ball ballen ballar ballane

References [edit]

  • “ball” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.

Scottish Gaelic [edit]

Noun [edit]

ball m (genitive and plural buill)

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

Derived terms [edit]

Swedish [edit]

Adjective [edit]

ball ˈbal

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

Declension [edit]

Declension of ball
Inflections of
ball		 Absolute Comparative Superlative
Attributive Predicative
Indefinite
singular		 Common ball ballare ballast
Neuter ballt
Definite
singular		 Masc. balle ballaste
All balla ballaste
Plural balla ballaste
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