blackballs

• present tense form

  present tense

  Used to describe things happening now or regularly.

  of blackball (3rd person singular).
  blackball

  verb (used with object)

  to vote against (a candidate, applicant, etc.).

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blackballs

While that blackballs the firms, it does not ban all business dealings, the report added.

From Reuters ● Mar. 25, 2022

I buy licorice whips, jelly beans, many-layered blackballs with the seed in the middle, packages of fizzy sherbet you suck up through a straw.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

But once again, insensible to this detail, the jury seemed scarcely able to find blackballs enough to emphasize their refusal of the "Passage of the Beresina."

From International Short Stories: French by A. Cheneviere

Of all candidates at a club a known quarreller is more sure of blackballs now than even in the times when such a one provoked duels.

From Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope

Six blackballs shall exclude, and at least one-third of the members must vote in the affirmative to elect.

From American Big Game in Its Haunts by Various

Related Words

• blacklist
• ostracize