blue balls

[bloo bawlz]

plural noun

Slang: Vulgar.

1. a painful condition of the testes and scrotum arising when sexual arousal is not followed by orgasm, as when stimulation is interrupted before climax can occur.

Word History and Origins

Origin of blue balls¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Lyons goes on to recall an incident in which Peck made a joke about “blue balls” — which, at the time, he thought was a reference to racquetballs.

From Los Angeles Times

“I just didn’t know what they were. And he goes, ‘Well, we know what blue balls are.

From Los Angeles Times

Why do you think the myth that blue balls is dangerous is so pervasive?

From Scientific American

Yet more than 40 percent of the survey respondents with a vagina said that they’ve felt pressured to “engage sexually due to a partner’s fear of getting blue balls/vulva.”

From Scientific American

But I think one explanation could be the narrative that blue balls happens mainly to younger men who are sexually frustrated, so it’s kind of treated like a joke and almost like a rite of passage.

From Scientific American