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balls

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Balls

English

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Pronunciation

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To be cleaned up A user suggests that this English entry be cleaned up, giving the reason: “overlaps with ball, esp. the senses "(mildly vulgar, slang, usually in the plural) A testicle.", "(in the plural) Nonsense.", "(in the plural) Courage."”.
Please see the discussion on Requests for cleanup(+) or the talk page for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with.

Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der.
Proto-Germanic *balluz
Old English *beall
Middle English bal
English ball
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *-ms
Proto-Indo-European *-omsder.
Proto-Germanic *-anzder.?
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂m̥s
Proto-Germanic *-ōz
Proto-Germanic *-ōsder.?
Old English -as
Middle English -es
English -s
English balls

    From ball + -s.

    Noun

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    balls

    1. plural of ball
      Can you believe he can juggle six balls at once?
    2. (vulgar, colloquial) The testicles.
      He accidentally kicked me in the balls the other day while we were playing soccer.

    Noun

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    balls pl (plural only)

    1. (uncountable, vulgar, colloquial) Masculinity, particularly strength, courage, and force of will; chutzpah; brazenness.
      Synonyms: stones; see also Thesaurus:testicles
      Near-synonyms: guts; see also Thesaurus:courage
      He must have a lot of balls to talk to his boss that way.
      He's the guy with the big balls in that group.
      Balls is all that it takes to succeed.
      • 1960, Carlos Fuentes, Sam Hileman, Where the Air is Clear‎[1], page 80:
        Balls is all it takes to handle these people
      • 2006, Leonardo Padura, Havana Blue‎[2], page 137:
        “Balls, gentlemen, balls is what you need to win at this game"
      • 2007 September 28, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 2, Episode 6:
        Douglas: You've got spunk. And balls. And I like that in a woman.
    2. (uncountable, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hawaii, vulgar, colloquial) Synonym of bollocks, nonsense.
      That's a load of balls.
    3. (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hawaii, vulgar) A balls-up; a botched job.
      Don't make a balls of it!

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    follow the translations in the entry "ball" — see ball

    Verb

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    balls (third-person singular simple present ballses, present participle ballsing, simple past and past participle ballsed)

    1. (vulgar, transitive) Speaking or acting with bravado to achieve (something)
      • 1981, Tiny Boyles, Hank Nuwer, William Boyles, A Killing Trade, →ISBN, page 191:
        You're going up to the front door of that mansion and ballsing your way inside.
      • 2009, Keith Brooke, The Accord, page 135:
        The poor fuck is broken-hearted, and he thinks he is ballsing it out really well, but he isn't.
      • 2014, Claire Farrell, Make You: Stake You #2:
        He was ballsing his way through the conversation. For the first time, I caught a glimpse of something vulnerable behind the usual brashness.
    2. (vulgar, slang) To engage in sexual intercourse.

    Verb

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    balls

    1. third-person singular simple present indicative of ball

    Derived terms

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    Adverb

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    balls (not comparable)

    1. (slang) Very. Intensifier.
      It is balls cold out there.

    Translations

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    Further reading

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    Catalan

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    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    balls

    1. plural of ball
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