BALL, n.[L. pila; A ball may signify a mass from collecting, or it may be that which is driven, from the root of L. pello; probably the former.]

1. A round body; spherical substance, whether natural or artificial; or a body nearly round; as, a ball for play; a ball of thread; a ball of snow.
2. A bullet; a ball of iron or lead for cannon, muskets, &c.
3. A printer's ball, consisting of hair or wool, covered with leather or skin, and fastened to a stock, called a ball-stock, and used to put ink on the types in the forms.
4. The globe or earth, from its figure.
5. A globe borne as ensign of authority; as, to hold the ball of a kingdom. – Bacon.
6. Any part of the body that is round or protuberant; as, the eye ball; the ball of the thumb or foot.
7. The weight at the bottom of a pendulum.
8. Among the Cornish miners in England, a tin mine.
9. In pyrotechnics, a composition of combustible ingredients, which serve to burn, smoke or give light. Ball-stock, among printers, a stock somewhat hollow at one end, to which balls of skin, stuffed with wool, are fastened, and which serves as a handle. Ball-vein, among miners, a sort of iron ore, found in loose masses, of a circular form, containing sparkling particles. – Encyc. Ball and socket, an instrument used in surveying and astronomy, made of brass, with a perpetual screw, to move horizontally, obliquely, or vertically. Puff-ball, in botany, the Lycoperdon, a genus of funguses. Fire-ball, a meteor; a luminous globe darting through the atmosphere; also, a bag of canvas filled with gunpowder, sulphur, pitch, saltpeter, &c., to be thrown by the hand, or from mortars, to set fire to houses.

An entertainment of dancing; originally and peculiarly, at the invitation and expense of an individual; but the word, is used in America, for a dance at the expense of the attendants.

To form into a ball, as snow on horses' hoofs, or on the feet. We say the horse balls, or the snow balls.

1. Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow.
2. To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay] to gather into balls; as, the horse balls; the snow balls.
3. To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
4. A social assembly for the purpose of dancing.
5. A pitched ball, not struck at by the batsman, which fails to pass over the home base at a height not greater than the batsman's shoulder nor less than his knee.
6. A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc.
7. To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton.
8. A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football.
9. Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rifle ball; -- often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets.
10. A flaming, roundish body shot into the air] a case filled with combustibles intended to burst and give light or set fire, or to produce smoke or stench; as, a fire ball; a stink ball.
11. A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; -- formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller.
12. A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body; as, the ball of the thumb; the ball of the foot.
13. A large pill, a form in which medicine is commonly given to horses; a bolus.
    
    
    White.
14. The globe or earth.
    
    
    Pope.

    Move round the dark terrestrial ball.
    Addison.

    Ball and socket joint, a joint in which a ball moves within a socket, so as to admit of motion in every direction within certain limits. -- Ball bearings, a mechanical device for lessening the friction of axle bearings by means of small loose metal balls. -- Ball cartridge, a cartridge containing a ball, as distinguished from a blank cartridge, containing only powder. -- Ball cock, a faucet or valve which is opened or closed by the fall or rise of a ball floating in water at the end of a lever. -- Ball gudgeon, a pivot of a spherical form, which permits lateral deflection of the arbor or shaft, while retaining the pivot in its socket. Knight. -- Ball lever, the lever used in a ball cock. -- Ball of the eye, the eye itself, as distinguished from its lids and socket; -- formerly, the pupil of the eye. -- Ball valve (Mach.), a contrivance by which a ball, placed in a circular cup with a hole in its bottom, operates as a valve. -- Ball vein (Mining), a sort of iron ore, found in loose masses of a globular form, containing sparkling particles. -- Three balls, or Three golden balls, a pawnbroker's sign or shop.

    Syn. -- See Globe.