time-ball

1. 1.

   a ball that slides down a staff to show a fixed time; especially at an observatory

   Broaderball

   Part oftimepiece

Questions about time-ball

What does time-ball mean?

time-ball means "a ball that slides down a staff to show a fixed time; especially at an observatory".

How many syllables are in time-ball?

time-ball has 3 syllables and divides as ti-me--ball under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

Is time-ball a common word?

time-ball is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.