ball – English noun declension

English noun forms of ball

Noun: ball
Singularball
Pluralballs

Sample Sentences

  • a ball of spittle; a fecal ball
  • a ball of wool; a ball of twine
  • This dish is served with balls of potato.
  • […] 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:]
  • the ball of the thumb
  • c. 1712', Joseph Addison, Ode to the Creator of the World
  • What, though in solemn Silence, all / Move round the dark terrestrial Ball!
  • 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:]
  • Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall. [1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:]
  • Graham secured victory with five minutes left, coolly lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic. [2011 October 2, Aled Williams, “Swansea 2-0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport Wales:]
  • The children were playing ball on the beach.
  • George played his college ball at Stanford.
  • If you get to a million points, you get another ball.
  • After Essien's poor attempt flew into the stands, Rodrigo Moreno—Bolton's on-loan winger from Benfica who was making his full Premier League debut—nearly exposed the Blues with a lovely ball for Johan Elmander, but it just skipped away from his team-mate's toes. [2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1-0 Bolton”, in BBC:]
  • Shetland increased the lead in the 22nd minute when Kirkness shot first time from a ball that was fired into the area from outside the 25-metre line. [2014 October 21, Jim Tait, “Hockey girls through to next round”, in Shetland Times, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2024:]
  • Mark Wright sent a speculative ball for me to chase after and I found myself leaving Tony Adams in my wake, with only Seaman to beat. [2019, Robbie Fowler, My Life In Football: Goals, Glory & The Lessons I've Learnt, Kings Road Publishing, →ISBN:]
  • Hitler has only got one ball, / Göring has two but very small, / Himmler is rather sim'lar, / But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all. [c. 1939, anonymous author, “Hitler Has Only Got One Ball”:]
  • That’s a load of balls, and you know it!
  • I doubt he’s got the balls to tell you off.
  • The laxative alterative has not this advantage, the aloes, of which it is composed, being extremely bitter, and therefore requiring to be given in the form of a ball. [1842, James White, A compendium of the veterinary art:]
  • I'ma let these niggas have it, go on stage and throw a forty ball [2022 July 22, “Convict Life (Wanna Be Alone)”, YoungBoy Never Broke Again (lyrics):]
  • Forty ball all in these leather jeans
  • Diamonds studs, I make a bum nigga think twice [2022 September 16, “Hands on the Floor” (track 4, 0:40 from the start), in Su'Lan (lyrics), Forever Da Gang:]
  • Forty ball on my wrist, nigga, I cashed out on it (Damn)
  • Forty bands on my neck, nigga, I maxed out on it (Damn) [2022 November 23, “10PM in ATL” (track 2), in GoldenBoy Countup (lyrics), Chill:]
  • Dropped a twenty ball in Gallery Department [2022 November 25, “Gallery” (track 6), in OhGeesy (lyrics), GEEZYWORLD 2:]

Etymology

1. Etymology tree
2. Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der.
3. Proto-Germanic *balluz
4. Old English *beall
5. Middle English bal
6. English ball
7. From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from an unattested Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz, *ballô (“ball”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰol-n- (“ball, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, inflate, swell”).
8. 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. See: Middle English Nouns 'bal', Dutch Nouns 'bal', German Nouns 'Ball'.

Verbs referencing "ball"

Irish Nouns ball, English Nouns boba, German Nouns Ball, English Nouns boba tea, Icelandic Nouns bolti, Zulu Nouns ibhola, Portuguese Nouns bola gato, Galician Nouns baloco, Galician Nouns baloca.