ball game
or ball·game
- 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.
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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
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affairusetransactionforcedealserviceprocessworkenterpriseagencyapplicationprocedureactivityactionefforttripexercisemovementstatusspotExamples from the Web for ballgame
Contemporary Examples
A couple of summers ago I sat with Zamperini at a ballgame at Fenway Park.
Met him on the D train going to Yankee Stadium one day and spent that afternoon watching a ballgame with him in the press box.
“The ballgame is a little different” in Pakistan, he continued.
Historical Examples
He said, "I have an undershirt on today," it was at some ballgame.
Warren Commission (2 of 26): Hearings Vol. II (of 15)The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
ball game
- 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)
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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
Idioms and Phrases with ballgame
ballgame
see whole new ballgame.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.