bola
Americannoun
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bolas
plural
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Also a weapon consisting of two or more heavy balls secured to the ends of one or more strong cords, hurled by the Indians and gauchos of southern South America to entangle the legs of cattle and other animals.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bola
1835–45; < Spanish: ball < Old Provençal < Latin bulla bubble, knob; see boil 1
Vocabulary lists containing bola
Aztec, Maya, and Inca Empires - Introductory
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Aztec, Maya, and Inca Empires - Middle School and High School
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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.
See Examples For:
But some opt for less physically demanding escapism in the form of "congklak" -- a counting game using seeds or stones -- or "bola bekel", similar to jacks.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
Huge queues formed where la bola en la calle – the gossip on the street – told of chicken, pork or cooking oil.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 21, 2021
To generalize all rola bola acts as “like a panda trying to snowboard” is like comparing all en-pointe variations to “a flamingo trying to tiptoe.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2017
La bola, Cuba’s bush telegraph, transmits news around the island long before it is covered by state media.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 20, 2015
Abel tried swinging the stone around and around above his head with a gradually lengthening line and then releasing it like a bola.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
The Tehuelche were innovators, too: Outsiders marveled at their bolas, weighted rope snares they swung and launched from horseback to hunt llamalike guanaco and flightless rhea birds.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 7, 2023
Developed around 2016, the BolaWrap was modeled after the bolas used by gauchos to wrangle animals.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 29, 2020
Had the bolas come in massed, coordinated onslaughts instead of being wielded by individual soldiers as they thought opportune, Pizarro might well have met his match.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Nonetheless, by the time of the siege of Qosqo the Inka had developed an effective anti-cavalry tactic: bolas.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
I swung and flung my bolas, and missed, and had to dismount.
From Wild Life in the Land of the Giants A Tale of Two Brothers by Gordon Stables
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.
