1. a spherical or approximately spherical body or shape; sphere: He rolled the piece of paper into a ball.
2. a round or roundish body, of various sizes and materials, either hollow or solid, for use in games, as baseball, football, tennis, or golf.
3. a game played with a ball, especially baseball: The boys are out playing ball.
4. a pitched ball, not swung at by the batter, that does not pass over home plate between the batter's shoulders and knees.
5. Military.
• a solid, usually spherical projectile for a cannon, rifle, pistol, etc., as distinguished from a shell.
• projectiles, especially bullets, collectively.
6. any part of a thing, especially of the human body, that is rounded or protuberant: the ball of the thumb.
7. a round mass of food, as of chopped meat, dough, or candy.
8. a testicle.
9. balls, Slang: Vulgar.
• boldness; courage; brashness: She had the balls to ignore her critics and stand up for what was right.
• nonsense (often used as an interjection).
10. bolus (def. 1).
11. a compact mass of soil covering the roots of an uprooted tree or other plant.
12. a planetary or celestial body, especially the earth.
13. (in a metric space) the set of points whose distance from the zero element is less than, or less than or equal to, a specified number.

14. to make into a ball (sometimes followed by up): The children were balling up snow to make a snowman.
15. to wind into balls: to ball cotton.
16. to have sexual intercourse with.

17. to form or gather into a ball: When the spun sugar balls, the candy has cooked sufficiently.
18. to play basketball: There’s no doubt the kid can ball, but the recruiters are also aware that he’s barely passing his math and science classes.
19. to have sexual intercourse.

20. to make or become utterly confused; muddle: The records had been all balled up by inefficient file clerks.

21. ball the jack, Slang.
• to act with speed.
• to stake everything on one attempt.
22. to assume the responsibility; bear the burden: You can always count on him to carry the ball in an emergency.
23. to make a mistake or miss an opportunity at a critical moment.
24. to continue or give renewed vigor to an activity already under way: When their interest lagged, he tried to keep the ball rolling.
25. on the ball,
• alert and efficient or effective: If you don't get on the ball, you'll be fired.
• indicating intelligence or ability: The tests show your students don't have much on the ball. The new manager has a lot on the ball.
26. play ball,
• to begin or continue playing a game.
• to start or continue any action.
• to work together; cooperate: union leaders suspected of playing ball with racketeers.
27. to assume responsibility or work enthusiastically: If management approves the concept, we'll run with the ball.
28. to put into operation; begin: The recreation director started the ball rolling by having all the participants introduce themselves.

1. a large, usually lavish, formal party featuring social dancing and sometimes given for a particular purpose, as to introduce debutantes or benefit a charitable organization.
2. a thoroughly good time: Have a ball on your vacation!

1. U.S. lawyer, investment banker, and government official.
2. English priest: one of the leaders of Wat Tyler's peasants' revolt in 1381.
3. U.S. actress.

1. a spherical or nearly spherical body or mass
2. a round or roundish body, either solid or hollow, of a size and composition suitable for any of various games: football, golf, billiards, etc
3. a ball propelled in a particular way in a sport
4. any of various rudimentary games with a ball
5. a single delivery of the ball by the bowler to the batsman
6. a single delivery of the ball by a pitcher outside certain limits and not swung at by the batter
• a solid nonexplosive projectile for a firearm
• such projectiles collectively
8. any more or less rounded part or protuberance
9. a testicle
10. vet science another word for bolus
11. the hard mass of roots and earth removed with the rest of the plant during transplanting
12. a very strong, fit, or forceful person
13. to have the chance of doing something
14. to maintain the progress of a project, plan, etc
15. alert; informed
16. to cooperate
17. to open or initiate (an action, discussion, movement, etc)
18. you are obliged to make the next move

19. to make, form, wind, etc, into a ball or balls
20. to gather into a ball or balls
21. to copulate (with)

1. a social function for dancing, esp one that is lavish or formal
2. a very enjoyable time (esp in the phrase have a ball)

1. John . died 1381, English priest: executed as one of the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt (1381)

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