Ball Meaning

/bɔːl/
A1

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.

nounA solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass., A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape.

The ball rolled into the stream.
The ball curved slightly.
The ball bounced twice before he could reach it.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The child kicked the red ____ across the grassy field.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The children were playing with a red ____ in the park this afternoon.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der. Proto-Germanic *balluz Old English *beall Middle English bal English ball From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from an unattested Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”) or Old Norse bǫllr (“a ball”), both from Proto-Germanic *balluz, *ballô (“ball”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰol-n- (“ball, 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.

"[…] the Good Old Cause, which, as they seemed to represent it, smelt of Gunpowder and ball […]" — 1659, Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, England’s Confusion, London, page 7:
"I gave each of them a Musket with a Firelock on it, and about eight Charges of Powder and Ball, charging them to be very good Husbands of both, and not to use either of them but upon urgent Occasion." — 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 294:
"[…] some headstrong Maroons were using a soldier of Captain Craskell’s ill, and compelling him to write to his commander, that it was too late to do any thing good, and that they wanted nothing, having got plenty of powder and ball […]" — 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 5, p. 148:
"This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship." — 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 1, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 1:
"Thus, if eternal Justice rules the ball, / Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall;" — 1717, Alexander Pope, Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The child kicked the red ____ across the grassy field.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The children were playing with a red ____ in the park this afternoon.

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