ball

ball
ball1 W2S1 [bo:l US bo:l] n
↑ball
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
1¦(round object)¦
2¦(round shape)¦
3¦(game/sport)¦
4¦(foot/hand)¦
5 on the ball
6 set/start/keep the ball rolling
7 the ball is in somebody's court
8¦(formal occasion)¦
9 have a ball
10 balls
11 a fast/good/long etc ball
12¦(cricket)¦
13¦(baseball)¦
14 the whole ball of wax
15 a ball of fire
16 ball-buster/ball-breaker
17 keep several/too many etc balls in the air
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Sense: 1-7, 10-17; Date: 1200-1300; : Old Norse; Origin: böllr]
[Sense: 8-9; Date: 1600-1700; : French; Origin: bal, from Old French baller 'to dance', from Late Latin ballare, from Greek ballizein]
1.) ¦(ROUND OBJECT)¦
a round object that is thrown, kicked, or hit in a game or sport
throw/hit/kick/catch etc a ball
▪ Weiskopf hit the ball 330 yards and a cheer went up.
a tennis/golf/cricket etc ball
2.) ¦(ROUND SHAPE)¦
something formed or rolled into a round shape
▪ a ball of string
▪ Shape the dough into balls.
3.) ¦(GAME/SPORT)¦[U]
any game or sport played with a ball, especially baseball or ↑basketball
▪ D'you want to go out and play ball ?
▪ Dad's downstairs watching some ball.
4.) ¦(FOOT/HAND)¦
the ball of the foot/hand
the rounded part of the foot at the base of the toes, or the rounded part of the hand at the base of the thumb
5.) on the ball informal
able to think or act quickly and intelligently
▪ an assistant who's really on the ball
6.) set/start/keep the ball rolling
to start something happening
▪ To start the ball rolling, the government was asked to contribute £1 million.
7.) the ball is in sb's court
it is their turn to take action or to reply
▪ I've emailed him twice - now the ball's in his court.
8.) ¦(FORMAL OCCASION)¦
a large formal occasion at which people dance
9.) have a ball informal
to have a very good time
10.) balls [plural] informal not polite
a) ↑testicles
b) courage
▪ I didn't have the balls to ask.
c) BrE spoken something that is stupid or wrong
▪ That's a load of balls!
→↑balls1
11.) a fast/good/long etc ball
a ball that is thrown, hit, or kicked fast etc in a game or sport
▪ He hit a long ball to right field.
12.) ¦(CRICKET)¦
no ball
a ball that is thrown too high, low etc towards someone trying to hit it, in the games of ↑cricket or ↑rounders
13.) ¦(BASEBALL)¦
a ball that the hitter does not try to hit, because it is not within the correct area
14.) the whole ball of wax
AmE informal the whole thing
15.) a ball of fire informal
someone who has a lot of energy and enthusiasm
16.) ball-buster/ball-breaker informal
a) a problem that is very difficult to deal with
b) an offensive word for a woman who uses her authority over men
17.) keep several/too many etc balls in the air
to struggle to deal with more than one problem or job at the same time
▪ The company just won't be able to keep that many balls in the air.
→↑cannonball, ↑crystal ball, ↑wrecking ball,play ball at ↑play1 (7)
ball 2
ball2 v [T]
1.) also ball up
to make something form a small round shape
▪ Ray balled up his fists, ready to fight.
2.) AmE informal not polite to have sex with a woman

Dictionary of contemporary English. 2013.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?
Synonyms:
, , , / (of fire arms), , , / , , , /


Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ball — (b[add]l), n. [OE. bal, balle; akin to OHG. balla, palla, G. ball, Icel. b[ o]llr, ball; cf. F. balle. Cf. 1st {Bale}, n., {Pallmall}.] 1. Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow. [1913 Webster]… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ball — Ⅰ. ball [1] ► NOUN 1) a solid or hollow sphere, especially one that is kicked, thrown, or hit in a game. 2) a single throw or kick of the ball in a game. 3) N. Amer. a game played with a ball, especially baseball. ► VERB ▪ squeeze or form into a… …   English terms dictionary

  • ball — ball; ball·er; ball·ing; ball·iz·ing; base·ball; bee·ball; em·ball; high·ball·er; knuck·le·ball·er; spit·ball·er; bucky·ball; foos·ball; scuzz·ball; track·ball; …   English syllables

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  • ball — ball1 [bôl] n. [ME bal < OE * beallu < IE base * bhel , to swell > BOWL1, BLADDER, ON bǫllr, OHG balla, Gr phallos, L follis & flare] 1. any round, or spherical, object; sphere; globe 2. a planet or star, esp. the earth …   English World dictionary

  • BALL — (Biochemical Algorithms Library) is a C++ library containing common algorithms used in biochemistry and bioinformatics. The library also has Python bindings. Among the supported systems are Linux, Solaris, Microsoft Windows. The library can be… …   Wikipedia

  • Ball — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda El término ball puede hacer referencia a: Ball, el primer juego de Game Watch. bola mala, expresión utilizada en béisbol. la abreviatura botánica para John Ball. Ball, un álbum de la banda Iron Butterfly. Obtenido de …   Wikipedia Español

  • BALL (J.) — BALL JOHN (mort en 1381) La plupart des chroniques, dont celle de Froissart, présentent John Ball comme l’un des grands responsables du soulèvement des paysans et des artisans en Angleterre en 1381. Peut être, disciple de John Wyclif, aurait il… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Ball — Ball: Ball   общепринятое сокращение (обозначение) имени ботаника, которое добавляется к научным (латинским) названиям некоторых таксонов ботанической номенклатуры и указывает на то, что автором этих наименований является Болл, Джон… …   Википедия

  • Ball — Ball, n. [F. bal, fr. OF. baler to dance, fr. LL. ballare. Of uncertain origin; cf. Gr. ba llein to toss or throw, or pa llein, pa llesqai, to leap, bound, balli zein to dance, jump about; or cf. 1st {Ball}, n.] 1. A social assembly for the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Ball — Ball, v. t. 1. (Metal.) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling. [1913 Webster] 2. To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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