balls
Britishplural noun
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the testicles
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so as to be rendered powerless
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nonsense; rubbish
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courage; forcefulness
interjection
Usage
Both its anatomical senses and its various extended senses nowadays have far less impact than they used to, and seem unlikely to cause offence, though some older or more conservative people may object. Interestingly, its use in the sense of courage is exactly paralleled in the Spanish term «cojones»
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.
"Rafa would say, 'right the ball's at cone A, the ball's at cone D, the ball's at cone F' and then we'd all have to run to where we should be."
From BBC • May 12, 2026
A system called Trackman uses in-stadium, two-directional Doppler radar and synchronized high-speed cameras to quantify everything from a ball’s rotation and velocity to location.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026
Shine a light outward from the center of the beachball so that the ball’s surface is projected onto the inside of the cylinder.
From Slate • Jan. 21, 2026
“Once the ball’s snapped, the adrenaline’s pretty good so we’ll hopefully just keep going.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 12, 2026
If the ball’s hit on the ground, he takes off; if it’s a line drive, he freezes until it clears the infield; and if it’s in the air, he laser-locks on Webb at third.
From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner
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.
