ball
 I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a board/ball game
▪ board games such as Monopoly and Scrabble
ball and chain
▪ The lower-tech side of the business was seen as a ball and chain.
ball bearing
ball boy
ball game
▪ I used to be a teacher, so working in an office is a whole new ball game.
ball girl
ball park
▪ Their estimate is in the right ball park.
beach ball
blasted...ball
▪ With six minutes remaining, he blasted the ball through the Coleraine defences for his 19th goal of the season.
bowling ball
chipped...ball
▪ United scored just before half-time when Adcock cleverly chipped the ball over the keeper.
crystal ball
cue ball
fly ball
golf ball
jump ball
loose ball
▪ Sheringham was the first player to reach the loose ball.
masked ball
no ball
roll sth into a ball/tube
▪ Roll the dough into small balls.
steals the ball
▪ Roy steals the ball four times in the first half.
Swiss ball
the ball of your foot (=the rounded part of your foot at the base of the toes)
▪ He has a blister on the ball of his foot.
the belle of the ball (=the most beautiful girl at a dance or party)
wedding/evening/ball gown
▪ a white silk wedding gown
wrecking ball
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
 NOUN
bearing
▪ There must be an old Navy uniform and a few ball bearings somewhere on Treasure Island.
▪ They were rolling it on rusty ball bearings.
▪ Once fired, the blast would fire the ball bearings out toward the enemy and covered quite an area.
▪ In the first system the rotation of the mouse's wheels or ball bearing are transferred to rollers.
▪ The football's got ball bearings in it.
▪ Many machines use ball bearings to reduce friction.
cricket
▪ Now the hard leather cricket ball had inflamed this old injury.
▪ Can his death really be blamed on a cricket ball?
▪ Winston Churchill, with extraordinary perspicacity, wrote at the time: Meeting an artillery attack is like catching a cricket ball.
▪ Meeting an artillery attack is like catching a cricket ball.
▪ There were no houses, no people, no hills, and not a rock bigger than a cricket ball.
crystal
▪ They must not have hired him for his political foresight, either, because his crystal ball record is abysmal.
▪ Gazing into our crystal ball, we see Scott breaking her campaign promise to not privatize Tucson Water.
▪ You are on a globe that looks like a crystal ball or a marble in a light bed of cotton wool.
▪ Not glass to reflect bit of the world, but a crystal ball to look into soas to understand the world.
▪ The scientists' crystal ball is a bit cloudy on some things though.
▪ A crystal ball in which one can call up the past?
▪ Or maybe you have seen a crystal ball containing a tiny house which you can shake to produce a brilliant snowstorm?
▪ If you are still out of work, the tribunal has to gaze into its crystal ball.
game
▪ Although not my cup of tea, I must admit Manchester United is a whole new ball game.
▪ Analysts said the company had done just what it needed to do to stay in the telephone company ball game.
▪ So obviously if he's hidden this one, he's playing a whole new ball game.
▪ Nothing works quite like finger food in terms of complementing a b-ball game.
▪ There are many simple exercises you can do to help people keep moving which can be done sitting down such as ball games.
▪ Every year it should be a slightly different ball game to keep every species slightly out of equilibrium.
▪ There is a strong argument for insisting that he is the outstanding performer in any ball game.
▪ Read in studio Still to come on Central News, it's a whole new ball game.
golf
▪ Theatre dressing room-style fittings with small golf ball bulbs are especially effective.
▪ A 3-ounce roll is the size of a golf ball.
▪ But with being a keen golfer, I developed a keen eye for a golf ball and a distance.
▪ I accept that a golf ball is inanimate.
▪ Hernias vary in size from a golf ball to a football and can strike at any age.
▪ I understand that a golf ball does not have ears or a brain or even a nervous system.
▪ It can detect a steel sphere half the size of a golf ball, at a range of 70 yards.
▪ Reunion Tower, a downtown landmark, looks like a giant, electric golf ball on 50-story tee.
gown
▪ Her ball gown was an old grey dress which she had prettified with some lengths of Brussels lace.
▪ The inaugural ball gown was an emphatic announcement that the first lady was going to play the style game her way.
▪ They are in their tuxedos and ball gowns.
▪ No one breakfasts in ball gowns anymore, but many people still dress up for the afternoon races.
▪ She wore a yellow taffeta ball gown with black pumps and matching bum bag for her liver treats!
▪ There will not be a shortage of ball gowns and tuxes.
▪ The women wore ball gowns and jewels and looked like royal butterflies.
▪ National stores have had ball gowns shipped in from all over the country.
park
▪ And the cost of a day at the ball park?
▪ He can walk to the ball park from the house.
▪ Change-up curves are what Mantle hits out of ball parks.
tennis
▪ Yes, Ezra is a tennis ball, does bounce on, off, along, over everything.
▪ You can tell her all about the time I hit a tennis ball off the moon.
▪ The cat, although nervous, appears unharmed by the tennis ball which has just struck it amidships.
▪ Luckily, that problem turned out to be nothing more than a tennis ball lodged in a downspout.
▪ More cheerfully he trotted after Lou, catching the tennis ball as it came bouncing towards him.
▪ The ghost of the tennis ball is coming to haunt the man.
▪ These days you hardly ever see a child with a small rubber or tennis ball.
▪ My cheek was swollen like I had misplaced a tennis ball.
VERB
bowl
▪ Rawson then bowled the next ball wide of the stumps before joining his team in a frantic dash for the pavilion.
▪ He rolls around the bed like a loose bowling ball in the trunk of the car.
▪ With the scores level, Akram then had Mallender caught at slip via a rebound and bowled Tufnell next ball.
▪ His face was smooth as a bowling ball, the skin tight and bright, masking hard inner muscle.
▪ Place a set of wickets about ten feet from a second position from where a person is going to bowl a ball.
▪ Fairbrother, on 18, was bowled by a quicker ball from Warnaweera.
catch
▪ The ever-enthusiastic and friendly Bobby Skinstad volunteered to lift me up from behind for me to catch the ball.
▪ The Steeler receivers run well after they catch the ball, so you have to tackle well in the secondary.
▪ Winston Churchill, with extraordinary perspicacity, wrote at the time: Meeting an artillery attack is like catching a cricket ball.
▪ He caught the ball in rhythm and drained the 3-pointer with 15. 7 seconds left.
▪ More cheerfully he trotted after Lou, catching the tennis ball as it came bouncing towards him.
▪ In fact, Alou was scratched because he jammed his left wrist the night before trying to catch a home-run ball.
▪ He helps in a lot of other ways than catching the ball.
▪ He caught the ball and took off, all 320 pounds of him.
drop
▪ With outstretched arm he dropped the ball in the circle.
▪ Parore dropped Lewis first ball, and again before stumps.
▪ That was before Muirbrook dropped the ball, which Raiders cornerback Lionel Washington recovered.
▪ Those who drop the ball return to number one and those below that number move up one place.
▪ Another time he dropped a ball of crunched-up math paper on my desk.
▪ My handling skills have always been reasonable in all sports, and I managed to complete the exercise without dropping a ball.
▪ If a 260 tennis coach followed this philosophy, students would practice dropping the ball for a week.
get
▪ Then Page gets the ball on the half way line.
▪ Illinois gets the ball and Eddie promptly steals it.
▪ Platt got the ball in the net again after 31 minutes, but he was ruled offside.
▪ They are so good at forcing turnovers and getting the ball out.
▪ I got the glass ball in one hand and the arrow in the other.
▪ The object in every game for us is to get the ball to Tim Brown early because he is our go-to guy.
▪ He looks dangerous every time he gets the ball.
▪ I really wanted to get the ball in the end zone to put the game out of reach.
hit
▪ Also, some think that because they are holding a driver they have to hit the ball much harder.
▪ You can tell her all about the time I hit a tennis ball off the moon.
▪ Some one who hits the ball with great accuracy on the volley and with some power too.
▪ I hit the ball well and a very loud cheer went up.
▪ On the other hand, I do hit the ball tremendously hard and with various violent spins.
▪ Pow, Janir hit a long ball into the blackberry bushes beside the creek.
▪ That created a little space and I just hit the ball.
▪ His strength was hitting the ball to left.
hold
▪ He said he felt like somebody grabbed his arm to keep him from holding the ball.
▪ You hold one ball in each hand.
▪ Nobody gained much, but Hicks held on to the ball.
▪ She was just standing there beaming, holding this big ball of fluff in her arms.
▪ After the catch, he crashed hard into the barrier but held on to the ball.
▪ His great skill is to be able to hold the ball back without changing his action.
▪ Young, holding the ball a little too long, came through the sacks without a dent.
keep
▪ Peter was as steady as a rock, keeping the ball on the fairway and hitting nearly every green in regulation.
▪ It was she, far more than her husband, who kept the conversational ball rolling.
▪ Nowadays, even wings are expected, like everyone else, to keep the ball available.
▪ We wanted to shorten the game and keep the ball away from their offense.
▪ I went, I tried the game, and I liked it straight off, even though I kept missing the ball.
▪ Volume 2 deals with general idioms e.g. keep the ball rolling, the proof of the pudding.
▪ For the boys, there is no point in the repetitive instructions to keep the ball on the ground.
kick
▪ After a few laps of the track we could kick a ball about or even have a go at throwing a javelin.
▪ So when they played after school, they improvised by kicking a tennis ball.
▪ You can also invent little games, such as kicking a ball in a bucket or bowl of water.
▪ Just kicked the ball, I guess.
▪ There is only one option left for the attacking team - to kick the ball.
▪ Did you kick the ball and then run fast?
▪ That would soon stop teams kicking the ball away.
▪ They remind you of a bunch of schoolboys wandering down a lonely road, kicking a ball along.
lose
▪ Iain Balshaw was turned over on the wing, only for Queensland to lose the ball again.
▪ The rules allow five minutes to search for a lost ball.
▪ He lost the ball in a tackle and so spilled CI's chances of a perfect start.
▪ He lost the ball when he hit the turf but recovered the loose ball.
▪ Five minutes later the same player received the ball in a dangerous position after Shuhel Milque lost the ball in midfield.
▪ The pack is strong, but we lost lots of lineout ball in Dublin and never got going.
▪ To lose your own ball in a line-out is more damaging than losing a strike against the head.
move
▪ We wanted to move the ball wide to allow Sella and Mesnel some space.
▪ We drove down the field and did a good job moving the ball.
▪ Look how far the head has moved past the ball.
▪ It was a night when they moved the ball smartly around the perimeter and hit the key shots.
▪ It is a little like throwing a ball out of a moving train.
▪ He likes to move the ball quickly and prefers to throw in the 10-20-yard range.
▪ He attempted to escape by hitting a nine-iron left-handed but succeeded in only moving the ball a couple of inches.
▪ They moved the ball, hit the open man, hustled and scrapped.
pass
▪ Eventually, some one passed me the ball.
▪ The midfielders and defenders passed the ball around in their end of the field, 10 or 15 passes at a time.
▪ There was a moment, during a general kick-about, when some one passed me the ball.
▪ The Ramblers pass a soccer ball back and forth, a display of agility and grace.
▪ He rarely passes the ball away, and in his role you need that.
▪ So Kobe Bryant passed the ball to Duncan in the final seconds for the West.
▪ They have so much attacking talent, pass the ball crisply, move lithely and carve out openings galore.
▪ But Dollar does not pass the ball as Edney comes at him.
pick
▪ From a hurried clearance, I think, Wallace picked up the ball and went past 4 defenders to the bye-line.
▪ I thought she was going to pick up the ball or something, she was so small.
▪ His mistakes usually make Lukic pick the ball out of the net.
▪ It was Cooper picking off the ball and feeding Thompson.
▪ The man had picked up the ball, and peered down at Nick through dark-rimmed, bleary eyes.
▪ He picked up the ball and walked the length of the yard with six of us hanging on him.
▪ He picked up the ball 25 yards out and attempted to chip Royce.
▪ After the Luisenos gain a quick advantage, however, a Sanjuaneno picks up the ball.
play
▪ The first option is to play the ball as it lies.
▪ It was a timeless scene: a brick house, a mown meadow, a man and his boy playing ball.
▪ This now prevents players who are in front of the ball from advancing forward towards an opponent waiting to play the ball.
▪ She played ball, she had difficulty with spelling, and she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up.
▪ These are the two accepted ways of playing the rising ball.
▪ Unfortunately, the team is playing catch-up and make-up ball.
▪ He has no one to play ball with and tosses his ball against the wall in a most despondent fashion.
▪ When they break a window playing ball or lose something that belongs to a friend, they should make amends.
roll
▪ I rolled out like a ball but sneaked back in on the back seat.
▪ He picked lint from his pants, rolled it into a ball, and flicked it across the room.
▪ They were rolling it on rusty ball bearings.
▪ At first, the teacher would play just with Hannah, rolling a ball to her.
▪ Hateley instantly exploited the error, rolling the ball back to Ian Ferguson and what followed was hell for defender Sergei Fokine.
▪ He can move forwards, rolling the ball forwards, and then come back almost to sit on his heels.
▪ A hedgehog tries to climb up the net and when it hears you approach it promptly rolls up into a ball.
▪ He rolled it into a ball, put it into his mouth, chewed.
run
▪ So, far from encouraging sides to run the ball more often, we have the opposite.
▪ When we ran the ball and we blocked I got yards.
▪ The sessions will include all the usual techniques like running with the ball, passing, defending, shooting and more.
▪ I really think they thought they were going to run the ball with him.
▪ When you run your healing ball within yourself, you must roll it everywhere.
▪ They planned on running the ball.
▪ Here we had to run, with the ball, through two players holding padded tackle bags.
▪ Kansas City wants to run the ball.
throw
▪ Children were playing and throwing a ball for each other to catch.
▪ I would throw the ball and he would just sit there with a stupid look on his face.
▪ It is a little like throwing a ball out of a moving train.
▪ Take the act of throwing a ball.
▪ Not bad for hitting, throwing and catching a ball - but also unaffordable.
▪ Young should have thrown the ball away on second-and-goal from the 5.
▪ The rest of the team try to throw the ball to their catcher and if they succeed they get a point.
▪ He throws an imaginary ball in the air and serves it to the horizon.
touch
▪ If a defending player has a loose lace and this touches the ball, may the attacking side drop for goal?
▪ Napoleon Kaufman, making his third consecutive start, certainly wants to touch the ball more frequently.
▪ Also the incident when he hacked their left winger in the box, he never touched the ball.
▪ This was another night to greet Scottie Pippen with a constant chorus of boos every time he touched the ball.
▪ Tortolano fed Weir and he touched the ball on to McGinlay, who ran through a porous home defence to score easily.
▪ Terrell and I knew we would touch the ball a limited number of times.
▪ O'Connell's header found Graham completely unmarked inside the penalty box but Goram did enough to touch the ball on to the bar.
▪ The first-half, however, may be best remembered for what happened to a player who hardly touched the ball.
turn
▪ It bounced up and I turned to see the ball hovering above my stumps.
▪ The penalty gave the Jaguars a first down instead of having to turn the ball over to the Raiders.
▪ Gary Lund raced in for the rebound but Marker turned the ball round the post.
▪ Sprinkle the sesame seeds over it. Turn each ball around in the coating, lightly pressing it in.
▪ But no, as I watched, he turned a ball elegantly off his legs and called for a quick single.
▪ There are not many times you can turn the ball over five times and win.
▪ Grobbelaar flapped at McGee's cross and when Miller drove in a low shot Sanchez turned the ball into the net.
▪ They missed 10 of 26 free throws and turned the ball over 16 times.
win
▪ He wanted to win the ball and did not have the slightest intention of injuring Uzzell, he added.
▪ For this we needed to win quick ball in the loose where Tordo was excellent.
▪ But London won enough of the ball for Carling to display his acceleration and his priceless ability to time a pass.
▪ United keeper, Paul Kee should have won the ball, punched it clear.
▪ Clarke won plenty of line-out ball, but Andy Reed and Paul Burnell in the front five did not contribute as expected.
▪ However, real problems may arise once Leinster attempt to win the loose ball.
▪ Gloucester's problem was that they still could not win enough of the ball.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a ball-park figure/estimate/amount
a whole new ball game
▪ I used to be a teacher, so working in an office is a whole new ball game.
▪ Although not my cup of tea, I must admit Manchester United is a whole new ball game.
▪ Read in studio Still to come on Central News, it's a whole new ball game.
▪ So obviously if he's hidden this one, he's playing a whole new ball game.
in the (right) ball park
play ball
▪ He has no one to play ball with and tosses his ball against the wall in a most despondent fashion.
▪ It seemed clear to us that we would always have the time to play ball and get better as we went along.
▪ It was a timeless scene: a brick house, a mown meadow, a man and his boy playing ball.
▪ She played ball, she had difficulty with spelling, and she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up.
▪ The editor would have doubled it, if you'd played ball with me.
▪ There is a simple, inexpensive solution for those who refuse to play ball with the system.
▪ When they break a window playing ball or lose something that belongs to a friend, they should make amends.
spike the ball
▪ William Floyd, after a run to nowhere, spiked the ball a mile high.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a big beach ball
▪ Comets are balls of ice and dirt that circle the sun.
▪ It was the first time I'd ever been invited to a ball.
▪ Mommy, where's my ball?
▪ Shape the cookie dough into balls and put them in the refrigerator.
▪ The kitten was playing with a ball of yarn.
▪ The University holds a summer ball at the end of June.
▪ When hedgehogs are in danger, they curl their bodies into tight balls.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Alomar said it was a ball.
▪ But suddenly the sight of Giuseppe Signori's invitingly lofted ball into the penalty area put a spring in his step.
▪ Instead of bowling the ball, which bore a small silver shield, Mr Cottle threw it at a low-flying swan.
▪ Lukic must have seen the ball extremely late but still managed to get down well.
▪ She wants it for a ball, this poor unbalanced girl.
▪ The 49ers had the ball on the Bengals' 6-yard line, first-and-goal, down by a touchdown.
▪ The mallet whacked into the wooden ball, and the women laughed as the men groaned.
▪ Then she travels with the ball.
II. verb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a ball-park figure/estimate/amount
a whole new ball game
▪ I used to be a teacher, so working in an office is a whole new ball game.
▪ Although not my cup of tea, I must admit Manchester United is a whole new ball game.
▪ Read in studio Still to come on Central News, it's a whole new ball game.
▪ So obviously if he's hidden this one, he's playing a whole new ball game.
in the (right) ball park
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ In that time Dean is balling Marylou at the hotel and gives me time to change and dress.
ball
I. ball1 S1 W2 /bɔːl $ bɒːl/ noun
Sense 1-7, 10-17: [date : 1200-1300; Language : Old Norse; Origin : böllr]
Sense 8-9: [date : 1600-1700; Language : French; Origin : bal, from Old French baller 'to dance', from Late Latin ballare, from Greek ballizein]
1. ROUND OBJECT [COUNTABLE]a round object that is thrown, kicked, or hit in a game or sport
throw/hit/kick/catch etc a ball
▪ Weiskopf hit the ball 330 yards and a cheer went up.
a tennis/golf/cricket etc ball
2. ROUND SHAPE [COUNTABLE]something formed or rolled into a round shape:
▪ a ball of string
▪ Shape the dough into balls.
3. GAME/SPORT [UNCOUNTABLE]any game or sport played with a ball, especially baseball or basketball:
▪ D'you want to go out and play ball?
▪ Dad likes college ball.
4. FOOT/HAND the ball of the foot/hand the rounded part of the foot at the base of the toes, or the rounded part of the hand at the base of the thumb
5. on the ball
informal able to think or act quickly and intelligently:
▪ an assistant who’s really on the ball
6. set/start/keep the ball rolling
to start something happening:
▪ To start the ball rolling, the government was asked to contribute £1 million.
7. the ball is in sb’s court
it is their turn to take action or to reply:
▪ I’ve emailed him – now the ball’s in his court.
8. FORMAL OCCASION [COUNTABLE]a large formal occasion at which people dance
9. have a ball
informal to have a very good time
10. balls
[PLURAL] informal not polite
a) testicles
b) courage:
▪ I didn’t have the balls to ask.
c) British English spoken something that is stupid or wrong SYN nonsense:
▪ That’s a load of balls! ⇨ balls1
11. a fast/good/long etc ball
a ball that is thrown, hit, or kicked fast etc in a game or sport:
▪ He hit a long ball to right field.
12. CRICKET no ball a ball that is thrown too high, low etc towards someone trying to hit it, in the game of cricket or rounders
13. BASEBALL no ball [COUNTABLE]a ball that the hitter does not try to hit, because it is not within the correct area
14. the whole ball of wax
American English informal the whole thing SYN everything
15. a ball of fire
informal someone who has a lot of energy and enthusiasm
16. keep several/too many etc balls in the air
to struggle to deal with more than one problem or job at the same time:
▪ The company just won’t be able to keep that many balls in the air.
17. drop the ball
(also take your eye off the ball) to make a mistake when dealing with something because you stop thinking carefully or paying attention
18. ball-buster/ball-breaker
informal
a) a problem that is very difficult to deal with
b) an offensive word for a woman who uses her authority over men
⇨ cannonball, crystal ball, wrecking ball, ⇨ play ball at play1(7)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
verbs
▪throw a ball
▪ Suzy threw the ball to Matthew.
▪catch a ball
▪ He’s useless at sport; he can’t even catch a ball.
▪hit a ball
▪ He swung the bat back and hit the ball hard.
▪kick a ball
▪ Greg kicked the ball upfield to Will.
▪bounce a ball
▪ He was in the yard bouncing a ball against the wall.
▪get the ball
▪ Then the Cowboys got the ball again.
▪miss a ball (=not catch or hit it)
▪ I was trying hard but I kept missing the ball.
▪a ball rolls
▪ The ball just rolled past the hole.
▪a ball flies/sails
▪ The ball flew over the goalkeeper’s head and into the net.
▪a ball bounces
▪ In tennis, the ball must only bounce once.
▪a ball rebounds (=hits something and moves back and away from it again)
▪ The ball hit the goalpost and rebounded.
ADJECTIVES/NOUN + ball
▪a tennis/cricket/golf/rugby etc ball
▪ She was practising hitting golf balls.
▪a ping-pong/billiard/snooker etc ball
▪ He was bouncing around like a ping-pong ball.
▪a beach ball (=a large light ball used on the beach)
▪ Dad, will you blow up the beach ball?
ball + NOUN
▪a ball game
▪ He’s always watching ball games on TV.
▪ball skills
▪ Practising ball skills helps a child’s coordination.
II. ball2 verb [TRANSITIVE]
1. (also ball up) to make something form a small round shape:
▪ Ray balled up his fists.
2. American English informal not polite to have sex with a woman
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