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say it: bawl
ball is a noun and verb meaning "round object that is hit or thrown or kicked in games". It is pronounced /ˈbɔl/ — bawl. It carries 13 recorded senses.
round object that is hit or thrown or kicked in games
“the ball travelled 90 mph on his serve”
“the mayor threw out the first ball”
“the ball rolled into the corner pocket”
a solid projectile that is shot by a musket
“they had to carry a ramrod as well as powder and ball”
one of the two male reproductive glands that produce spermatozoa and secrete androgens
“she kicked him in the balls and got away”
a spherical object used as a plaything
“he played with his rubber ball in the bathtub”
United States comedienne best known as the star of a popular television program (1911-1989)
a lavish dance requiring formal attire
a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs
“he played baseball in high school”
“there was a baseball game on every empty lot”
“there was a desire for National League ball in the area”
“play ball!”
a pitch that is not in the strike zone
“he threw nine straight balls before the manager yanked him”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for ball come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.