pinball machine
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of pinball machine
First recorded in 1935–40
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
My kid is going to want to play a vintage pinball machine.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
In 1942 Fiorello La Guardia, New York City’s mayor, was photographed smashing a pinball machine with a sledgehammer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
But her ability to manage her finances is not your responsibility, and we risk embroiling you further in her emotional blackmail and psychological pinball machine by discussing her money troubles.
From MarketWatch • Oct. 9, 2025
Because particles have a charge, their flight path resembles a ball in a pinball machine as they zigzag against the electromagnetic fields through the cosmic microwave background.
From Science Daily • Nov. 23, 2023
Nearly everything in the room was broken; the TV, the pinball machine, the furniture.
From "Holes" by Louis Sachar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
