" balls "

[Noun]  | "ball" | \ ˈbȯl \

1: a round or roundish body or mass: such as

2: a spherical or ovoid body used in a game or sport —used figuratively in phrases like the ball is in your court to indicate who has the responsibility or opportunity for further action

3: earth, globe

Origin: 13th century ;

 Middle English bal, probably from Old English *beall; akin to Old English bealluc testis, Old High German balla ball, Old Norse bǫllr, Old English blāwan to blow {mat|blow|};

[Noun]  | "ball" 

1: a large formal gathering for social dancing

2: a very pleasant experience : a good time

Origin: 1605 ;

 Borrowed from French bal, going back to Old French, "dance, social gathering for dancing," noun derivative of baler, baller "to dance," going back to Late Latin ballāre, probably borrowed, with truncation of suffix, from Greek ballízein "to throw, fling," later, "to take part in revelry, make merry," from bállein "to throw, let fly, place" + -izein {see: |-ize|-ize} {mat|devil:1|};

  * Note : The Greek verb ballízein has ancient attestation solely in two Sicilian authors of mimes, Epicharmus and Sophron (5th-early 4th centuries B.C.), and the comic poet Alexis (late 3rd-2nd centuries B.C.). Their work survives only in fragments. The word most likely means "to throw, fling" in these texts, an interpretation that appears to be confirmed by the Latin word ballista, "military engine designed to hurl projectiles" (see: {ballista|ballista}), which is taken as a loan from unattested Greek *ballistā́s or *ballistḗs. The base of this noun, formed with the agent suffix -tēs/-tās, would be an underlying verb *ballid-, whence the present stem balliz- in ballízein. (Compare baptízein "to {baptize|baptize}" : baptistḗs {baptist|baptist} and scores of other derivatives.) The verb ballízein reappears in the Deipnosophistae ("Learned Banqueters") of Athenaeus of Naucratis (early 3rd century A.D.) as the subject of a discussion of its authenticity as Greek; it is taken as a synonym of kōmázein "to take part in communal revelry, make merry," or choreúein "to celebrate with dancing." Presumably some undocumented shift of senses has taken place, perhaps from "hurl, fling" to "move off rapidly, rush off" to "move about, go round" to "make merry, take part in celebratory revelry" to "dance." The latter sense would be the germ of Late Latin ballāre, which first appears in a sermon of Augustine of Hippo. For Augustine and later Church Fathers the activity denoted by the verb, whether dancing in a strict sense or more general revelry, is not suitable for Christians, perhaps due to pagan associations. See H. Paessens, "Das Verhältnis von βαλλίζω, βάλλω und ballare," Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, Neue Folge, 90. Band, 2. Heft (1941), pp. 146-56.;

[Noun]  | "balls-up" | \ ˈbȯlz-ˌəp \

1: foul-up

Origin: 1900 ;

[Noun]  | "air ball" 

1: a shot that completely misses the rim and backboard

Origin: 1967 ;

[Verb]  | "ball" 

1: to form or gather into a ball

2: to have sexual intercourse with

3: to form or gather into a ball

Origin: 1577 ;

[Verb]  | "air*ball" | \ ˈer-ˌbȯl \

1: to completely miss the rim and backboard with a shot : to shoot an air ball

Origin: 1966 ;

[Adjective]  | "balls-out" | \ ˈbȯlz-ˌau̇t \

1: all-out, full-out

2: boldly aggressive or competitive

Origin: circa 1945 ;

[Noun phrase]  | "base on balls" 

1: an advance to first base awarded a baseball player who during a turn at bat takes four pitches that are balls : walk

Origin: 1891 ;

[Noun phrase]  | "ball of fire" 

1: a person of unusual energy, vitality, or drive

Origin: circa 1900 ;

[Noun phrase]  | "ball of wax" 

1: affair, concern

Origin: 1832 ;

[Noun]  | "balls" 

[Noun]  | "balls" 

[Noun]  | "ball" 

[Noun]  | "ball" 

[Noun]  | "eight balls" 

[Verb]  | "balls" 

[Verb]  | "ball" 

[Phrase]  | "balls of wax" 

[Phrase]  | "ball of wax"