n. A spherical or approximately spherical body; a sphere; a globe: as, a ball of snow, of thread, of twine, etc. Specificallyn. A round or nearly round body, of different materials and sizes, for use in various games, as base-ball, foot-ball, cricket, tennis, billiards, etc.n. A game played with a ball, especially base-ball or any modification of it.n. A toss or throw of a ball in a game: as, a swift ball; a high or low ball.n. In base-ball, a pitch such that the ball fails to pass over the home-plate not higher than the shoulder nor lower than the knees of the striker: as, the pitcher is allowed five balls by the rules of the game.n. A small spherical body of wood or ivory used in voting by ballot. See ballot and blackball.n. The missile or projectile thrown from a firearm or other engine of war; a bullet or cannon-ball, whether spherical (as originally) or conical or cylindrical (as now commonly); in artillery, a solid projectile, as distinguished from a hollow one called a shell (which see).n. Projectiles, and more particularly bullets, collectively: as, to supply a regiment with powder and ball; the troops were ordered to load with ball.n. In printing, a rounded mass or cushion of hair or wool, covered with soft leather or skin, and fastened to a stock called a ball-stock, used (generally in pairs, one for each hand) before the invention of the roller to ink type on the press: still in use by wood-engravers, but made of smaller size, and with a silk instead of a leather face.n. A clew or cop of thread, twine, or yarn.—n. A spherical piece of soap.n. A rounded package; a bale.n. In metallurgy, one of the masses of iron, weighing about 80 pounds, into which, in the process of converting pig-iron into wrought-iron by puddling, the iron in the reverberatory furnace is made up as soon as it begins to assume a pasty condition.n. In medicine, a bolus; a large pill: now only in veterinary medicine.n. In pyrotechnics, a globular mass of combustible ingredients, or a case filled with them, designed to set fire to something or to give forth light, etc.; a fireball.n. In cabinet-work, the composition of shoemakers' wax used in waxing black-work.n. Any part of a thing, especially of the human body, that is rounded or protuberant: as, the ball of the eye; the ball of the thumb; the ball of a dumb-bell; the ball of a pendulum, that is, the bob or weight at the bottom.n. The central hollow of the palm of the hand.n. The central part of an animal's foot.n. A testicle: generally in the plural.n. A hand-tool with a rounded end arranged for cutting hollow forms.n. A round valve in an inclosed chamber, operated by the flow of the liquid through the chamber; a ball-valve.n. In lapidary-work, a small spherical grinder of lead used in hollowing out the under side of certain stones, as carbuncles, to make them thinner and thus more transparent.n. The globe; the earth.n. [A globe representing the earth is a common symbol of sovereignty; hence Bacon has the phrase to hold the ball of a kingdom, in the sense of to bear sovereignty over it.]To make into a ball. Specifically—To surround in a compact cluster, as bees when they surround the queen bee.To form or gather into a ball, as snow on horses' hoofs, or mud on the feet.To remain in a solid mass instead of scattering: said of shot discharged from a gun.To fail; miscarry.n. A dance; dancing.n. A social assembly of persons of both sexes for the purpose of dancing.To take part in a ball; dance.n. A white streak or spot.n. A horse or nag (originally, white-faced): used appellatively, like dun, bayard.An obsolete form of bawl.n. An obsolete form of bal.n. In the manufacture of soda by the Leblanc process, the batch of pasty material produced by heating together sodium sulphate or salt-cake, calcium carbonate (limestone or chalk), and coal as discharged from the furnace.n. In architecture, a spherical ornament.n. plural Iron ore occurring in balls or nodules. Also ball-ironstone.n. A belt of sand a short distance offshore on which waves break in rough weather.