ball game

or ball·game

See more synonyms for ball game on Thesaurus.com

noun

any game played with a ball, especially baseball or softball.
Informal. a situation and all its attendant circumstances: Having a new administration in power changes the entire ball game at city hall.Compare new ball game.
Archaeology. a ceremonial game of both ritual and sporting significance, played by teams on a ball court in Mesoamerican cultures from the Preclassic period to the Spanish conquest.

Origin of ball game

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ball game

Historical Examples of ball game

He might have been speaking of any commonplace—a ball-game, or a good show.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, June, 1930
Various
At a ball-game the sight of a man slumbering on the benches is inconceivable.
Ranching, Sport and Travel
Thomas Carson
It's the fresh guy who made the cheap talk at the ball-game.
Jim Spurling, Fisherman
Albert Walter Tolman
Ball-game of the women, ma-úhtape (e distinctly pronounced; the whole run together).
Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-1834, Part III (the Text Being Chapters XXVIII-XXXIII of the London Edition, 1843, and the Appendix a Combination of the Appendices of the London and German [Coblentz, 1839] Editions)
Maximilian, Prinz von Wied
"I am afraid he won't go to the ball-game; that will be too bad," said Carl.
The Story of the Big Front Door
Mary Finley Leonard

British Dictionary definitions for ball game

ball game

noun

any game played with a ball
US and Canadian a game of baseball
informal a situation; state of affairs (esp in the phrase a whole new ball game)

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