puffball

[ puhf-bawl ]

/ ˈpʌfˌbɔl /

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noun

any of various basidiomycetous fungi, especially of the genus Lycoperdon and allied genera, characterized by a ball-like fruit body that emits a cloud of spores when broken.

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Origin of puffball

First recorded in 1640–50; puff + ball¹

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

How to use puffball in a sentence

One of the kids had a ball in his hand, and Cuomo took it and tossed it back and forth to an eight year old.
Mario Cuomo, Always Moving Us Toward the Light|Mike Barnicle|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Instead of going for the hole, I hit the ball directly into the water.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
There is only sand, a white ball, and a flag indicating the hole.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
If the ball gets in the hole, the screen shifts to reveal the next hole.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST

When the game starts, there is only sand, a white ball, a flag indicating hole 1, and a “0” at the top of the screen.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It was little better than coal dust, and would not carry a ball fifty paces to kill or wound.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
A view of the duchess's ball-room, or of the dining-table of the earl, will supersede all occasion for lengthy fiddle-faddle.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
He had not the least idea what wadding was, and his notion of a bullet was a dockyard cannon-ball bigger than his own head.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
On the night of June the 11th a red-hot cannon-ball set fire to one of the barracks which was used as a hospital.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
At two o'clock, the general of the Carnival opens the public ball with the Mugnaia.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills

British Dictionary definitions for puffball

puffball

/ (ˈpʌfˌbɔːl) /

noun

any of various basidiomycetous saprotrophic fungi of the genera Calvatia and Lycoperdon, having a round fruiting body that discharges a cloud of brown spores when mature

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