stickball

[stik-bawl]

noun

a form of baseball played in the streets, on playgrounds, etc., in which a rubber ball and a broomstick or the like are used in place of a baseball and bat.

Origin of stickball

An Americanism dating back to 1815–25; (broom)stick + ball¹

Related formsstick·ball·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for stickball

Contemporary Examples of stickball

One day we were playing punchball—like stickball, only you used your fist to hit a Spaldeen or a bald tennis ball.
Mel Brooks Is Always Funny and Often Wise in This 1975 Playboy Interview
Alex Belth
February 16, 2014
Remember those quaint ethnic communities, once teeming with stickball games and eggplant-shaped old women wielding rolling pins?
Weren’t Those the Bad Old Days? The Poison of New York City Nostalgia
Michael Moynihan
January 6, 2014

Historical Examples of stickball

He knew the general rules of big-league baseball, but the kid-business of stickball did not register.
The Fourth R
George Oliver Smith