Balk vs. Ball

Balknoun

An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing.

Ballnoun

A solid or hollow sphere, or part thereof.

‘a ball of spittle;’; ‘a fecal ball’;

Balknoun

(archaeology) The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation.

Ballnoun

A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape.

‘a ball of wool;’; ‘a ball of twine’;

Balknoun

Beam, crossbeam.

Ballnoun

(ballistics) A solid, spherical nonexplosive missile for a cannon, etc.

Balknoun

A hindrance or disappointment; a check.

Ballnoun

A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body.

‘the ball of the thumb;’; ‘the ball of the foot’;

Balknoun

A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.

Ballnoun

(anatomy) The front of the bottom of the foot, just behind the toes.

Balknoun

(sports) A deceptive motion; a feint.

Ballnoun

The globe; the earthly sphere.

Balknoun

(baseball) An illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner.

Ballnoun

(mathematics) The set of points in a metric space lying within a given distance (the radius) of a given point; specifically, the homologue of the disk in a Euclidean space of any number of dimensions.

Balknoun

(badminton) A motion used to deceive the opponent during a serve.

Ballnoun

The set of points in a topological space lying within some open set containing a given point; the analogue of the disk in a Euclidean space.

Balknoun

(billiards) The area of the table lying behind the line from which the cue ball is initially shot, and from which a ball in hand must be played.

Ballnoun

An object, generally spherical, used for playing games.

Balknoun

(snooker) The area of the table lying behind the baulk line.

Ballnoun

(sport) A round or ellipsoidal object.

Balknoun

(fishing) The rope by which fishing nets are fastened together.

Ballnoun

Any simple game involving a ball.

‘The children were playing ball on the beach.’; ‘The children were playing ball in the garden.’;

Balkverb

(archaic) To pass over or by.

Ballnoun

(baseball) A pitch that falls outside of the strike zone.

Balkverb

To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.

Ballnoun

(pinball) An opportunity to launch the pinball into play.

‘If you get to a million points, you get another ball.’;

Balkverb

(obsolete) To miss intentionally; to avoid.

Ballnoun

(cricket) A single delivery by the bowler, six of which make up an over.

Balkverb

To stop, check, block.

Ballnoun

(soccer) A pass; a kick of the football towards a teammate.

Balkverb

To stop short and refuse to go on.

‘The horse balked.’;

Ballnoun

A testicle.

Balkverb

To refuse suddenly.

Ballnoun

Nonsense.

‘That’s a load of balls, and you know it!’;

Balkverb

To disappoint; to frustrate.

‘to balk expectation’;

Ballnoun

Courage.

‘I doubt he’s got the balls to tell him off.’;

Balkverb

To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.

Ballnoun

A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the roller.

Balkverb

To leave or make balks in.

Ballnoun

A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.

Balkverb

To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.

Ballnoun

A formal dance.

Balkverb

To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

Ballnoun

(informal) A very enjoyable time.

‘I had a ball at that concert.’;

Balknoun

A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside.

‘Bad plowmen made balks of such ground.’;

Ballverb

(transitive) To form or wind into a ball.

‘to ball cotton’;

Balknoun

A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called "the balks."

‘Tubs hanging in the balks.’;

Ballverb

(metalworking) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.

Balknoun

One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.

Ballverb

To have sexual intercourse with.

Balknoun

A hindrance or disappointment; a check.

‘A balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker.’;

Ballverb

(ambitransitive) To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.

‘The horse balls; the snow balls.’;

Balknoun

A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.

Ballverb

To be hip or cool.

Balknoun

A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. It is illegal and is penalized by allowing the runners on base to advance one base.

Ballverb

To play basketball.

Balkverb

To leave or make balks in.

Ballinterjection

(Australian rules football) An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player. This is heard almost any time an opposition player is tackled, without regard to whether the rules about "prior opportunity" to dispose of the ball are fulfilled.

Balkverb

To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.

‘Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see.’;

Ballnoun

Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow.

Balkverb

To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.

Ballnoun

A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc.

Balkverb

To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.

‘By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the inns.’; ‘Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.’; ‘Nor doth he any creature balk,But lays on all he meeteth.’;

Ballnoun

A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football.

Balkverb

To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart; as, to balk expectation.

‘They shall not balk my entrance.’;

Ballnoun

Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rifle ball; - often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets.

Balkverb

To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.

‘In strifeful terms with him to balk.’;

Ballnoun

A flaming, roundish body shot into the air; a case filled with combustibles intended to burst and give light or set fire, or to produce smoke or stench; as, a fire ball; a stink ball.

Balkverb

To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks.

‘Ne ever ought but of their true loves talkt,Ne ever for rebuke or blame of any balkt.’;

Ballnoun

A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; - formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller.

Balkverb

to commit a balk{6}; - of a pitcher.

Ballnoun

A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body; as, the ball of the thumb; the ball of the foot.

Balkverb

To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

Ballnoun

A large pill, a form in which medicine is commonly given to horses; a bolus.

Balknoun

the area on a billiard table behind the balkline;

‘a player with ball in hand must play from the balk’;

Ballnoun

The globe or earth.

‘Move round the dark terrestrial ball.’;

Balknoun

something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress

Ballnoun

A pitched ball, not struck at by the batter, which fails to pass over the home plate at a height not greater than the batter's shoulder nor less than his knee (i.e. it is outside the strike zone). If the pitcher pitches four balls before three strikes are called, the batter advances to first base, and the action of pitching four balls is called a walk.

Balknoun

one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

Ballnoun

a testicle; usually used in the plural.

Balknoun

an illegal pitching motion while runners are on base

Ballnoun

courage; nerve.

Balkverb

refuse to comply

Ballnoun

A social assembly for the purpose of dancing; - usually applied to an occasion lavish or formal.

Balk

In baseball, a pitcher can commit a number of illegal motions or actions that constitute a balk. Most of these violations involve a pitcher pretending to pitch when they have no intention of doing so.

Ballnoun

A very enjoyable time; as, we had a ball at the wedding.

Ballverb

To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls; as, the horse balls; the snow balls.

Ballverb

To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.

Ballverb

To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton.

Ballnoun

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’;

Ballnoun

a solid ball shot by a musket;

‘they had to carry a ramrod as well as powder and ball’;

Ballnoun

an object with a spherical shape;

‘a ball of fire’;

Ballnoun

the people assembled at a lavish formal dance;

‘the ball was already emptying out before the fire alarm sounded’;

Ballnoun

one of the two male reproductive glands that produce spermatozoa and secrete androgens;

‘she kicked him in the balls and got away’;

Ballnoun

a spherical object used as a plaything;

‘he played with his rubber ball in the bathtub’;

Ballnoun

United States comedienne best known as the star of a popular television program (1911-1989)

Ballnoun

a compact mass;

‘a ball of mud caught him on the shoulder’;

Ballnoun

a lavish formal dance

Ballnoun

a more or less rounded anatomical body or mass; ball of the human foot or ball at the base of the thumb;

‘he stood on the balls of his feet’;

Ballnoun

a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of 9 players; teams take turns at bat trying to score run;

‘he played baseball in high school’; ‘there was a baseball game on every empy lot’; ‘there was a desire for National League ball in the area’; ‘play ball!’;

Ballnoun

a pitch that is not in the strike zone;

‘he threw nine straight balls before the manager yanked him’;

Ballverb

form into a ball by winding or rolling;

‘ball wool’;

Ballnoun

a solid or hollow spherical or egg-shaped object that is kicked, thrown, or hit in a game

‘a cricket ball’;

Ballnoun

a spherical object or mass of material

‘he crushed the card into a ball’; ‘a ball of wool’;

Ballnoun

a solid non-explosive missile for a firearm.

Ballnoun

a game played with a ball

‘he comes across a group of kids playing ball’;

Ballnoun

baseball

‘young men would graduate from college and enter pro ball’; ‘kids have been playing ball in that lot for almost a hundred years’;

Ballnoun

(in cricket) a delivery of the ball by the bowler to the batsman

‘his half century came off only forty balls’;

Ballnoun

(in soccer) a pass of the ball in a specified direction or manner

‘Whelan sent a long ball to Goddard’;

Ballnoun

(in baseball) a pitch delivered outside the strike zone which the batter does not attempt to hit

‘he ignored it completely, and the umpire called it a ball’;

Ballnoun

the rounded protuberant part of the foot at the base of the big toe.

Ballnoun

the rounded protuberant part of the hand at the base of the thumb.

Ballnoun

a formal social gathering for dancing

‘Anne danced with the captain at a fancy-dress ball’; ‘a ball gown’;

Ballverb

squeeze or form (something) into a rounded shape

‘Robert balled up his napkin and threw it on to his plate’;

Ballverb

clench (one's fist) tightly

‘she balled her fist so that the nails dug into her palms’;

Ballverb

form a round shape

‘the fishing nets eventually ball up and sink’;

Ballverb

wrap the root ball of (a tree or shrub) to protect it during transportation.

Ballverb

have sexual intercourse with.

Ballverb

(of a flower) fail to open properly, decaying in the half-open bud.

Ball

A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with various uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players.