ball cock

or ballcock

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noun

a device for regulating the supply of water in a tank, cistern, or the like, consisting essentially of a valve connected to a hollow floating ball which by its rise or fall shuts or opens the valve.

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On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.

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Origin of ball cock

First recorded in 1780–90

Words nearby ball cock

ballbreaker, ball-buster, ball-carrier, ball clay, ball club, ball cock, ball control, balled-and-burlapped, baller, ballerina, Ballesteros

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for ball cock

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

When the game starts, there is only sand, a white ball, a flag indicating hole 1, and a “0” at the top of the screen.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The well-known "cock and bull" stories of small children are inspired by this love of strong effect.
Children's Ways|James Sully
It was little better than coal dust, and would not carry a ball fifty paces to kill or wound.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
A view of the duchess's ball-room, or of the dining-table of the earl, will supersede all occasion for lengthy fiddle-faddle.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
He had not the least idea what wadding was, and his notion of a bullet was a dockyard cannon-ball bigger than his own head.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
On the night of June the 11th a red-hot cannon-ball set fire to one of the barracks which was used as a hospital.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy

British Dictionary definitions for ball cock

ball cock

noun

a device for regulating the flow of a liquid into a tank, cistern, etc, consisting of a floating ball mounted at one end of an arm and a valve on the other end that opens and closes as the ball falls and rises with the water level in the cistern

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

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ball cock

or ballcock

noun

QUIZZES

QUIZ YOURSELF ON “ITS” VS. “IT’S”!

Origin of ball cock

Words nearby ball cock

Example sentences from the Web for ball cock

British Dictionary definitions for ball cock

noun