ball boy

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noun

Tennis. an attendant, usually a boy or young man, employed to retrieve balls and supply players with them.

Baseball. an attendant, usually a boy or young man, who retrieves foul balls and brings the umpire new balls during the game.

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Origin of ball boy

First recorded in 1900–05

Words nearby ball boy

ballast, ballast line, ballast pocket, ballata, ball bearing, ball boy, ballbreaker, ball-buster, ball-carrier, ball clay, ball club

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use ball boy in a sentence

In the 90s, it kept gay men out of leadership roles in the Boy Scouts of America.
Freaking Out About Age Gaps in Gay Relationships Is Homophobic|Samantha Allen|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
One of the kids had a ball in his hand, and Cuomo took it and tossed it back and forth to an eight year old.
Mario Cuomo, Always Moving Us Toward the Light|Mike Barnicle|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Instead of going for the hole, I hit the ball directly into the water.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
There is only sand, a white ball, and a flag indicating the hole.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST

If the ball gets in the hole, the screen shifts to reveal the next hole.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
A little boy of four was moved to passionate grief at the sight of a dead dog taken from a pond.
Children's Ways|James Sully
You see, I'd always thought of him as the boy whom Great-aunt Lucia described having seen.
The Boarded-Up House|Augusta Huiell Seaman
Poor Squinty ran and tried to hide under the straw, for he knew the boy was talking about him.
Squinty the Comical Pig|Richard Barnum
A look of passion came into the face of the watching boy, and again he fingered his revolver.
The Courier of the Ozarks|Byron A. Dunn
Several times after this the boy and his sisters came to look down into the pig pen.
Squinty the Comical Pig|Richard Barnum

British Dictionary definitions for ball boy

ball boy

ball girl

noun

(in sport, esp tennis) a person who retrieves balls that go out of play

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012