no ball

Save This Word!

noun Cricket.

an unfairly bowled ball.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of no ball

First recorded in 1740–50

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use no ball in a sentence

I suppose I must have explained a stymie or a no-ball very cleverly once.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 147, August 12, 1914|Various
“Sixty up,” said Ellerby, in the pavilion, as the umpire signalled another no-ball.
Mike|P. G. Wodehouse
The batsman may be “run out” in attempting a run off a “no-ball,” but cannot be put out off it in any other way.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6|Various
Why not make it a no-ball every time unless the bowler has both feet in the air at the moment when the ball leaves his hand?
Punch, or the London Charivari, July 1, 1914|Various

If we are to be in the swim we shall have to reconsider our no-ball rule.
Punch, or the London Charivari, July 1, 1914|Various

British Dictionary definitions for no ball

no-ball

noun

cricket an illegal ball, as for overstepping the crease, throwing, etc, for which the batting side scores a run, and from which the batsman can be out only by being run out

rounders an illegal ball, esp one bowled too high or too low

sentence substitute

cricket rounders a call by the umpire indicating a no-ball

verb

(tr) cricket (of an umpire)

to declare (a bowler) to have bowled a no-ball
to declare (a delivery) to be a no-ball

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012