boxball

American  

[boks-bawl] / ˈbɒksˌbɔl /

noun

1. a game played between two players on two adjoining squares or sections of a sidewalk or a playground, in which a ball is hit back and forth between the players, each defending a square, the object being to prevent a fair ball from bouncing twice before hitting it back into the opponent's square.

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Etymology

Origin of boxball

box ¹ + ball ¹

Example Sentences

To Zakroff, his block of Georgian Road in West Oak Lane was the world’s greatest playground - the pavement a concrete boxball court, a neighbor’s wall home to a variation on handball.

From Washington Times • Nov. 17, 2018

Even a small space could be enough for boxball - like baseball, minus the outfield.

From Washington Times • Nov. 17, 2018

That was until the police picked up his friend in the middle of a boxball game - something about attitude - then detained Weiss for laughing at the sight of him in the police car.

From Washington Times • Nov. 17, 2018

When Rosenstein grew up in Brooklyn, his game was boxball, a kind of street tennis that is played with a "Spaldeen pinkie" ball on a court made up of sidewalk squares.

From Time Magazine Archive

We used to play boxball and dodgeball on East 127th all the time, even though I lived on the West Side.

From "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore