The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ball \Ball\ (b[add]l), n. [OE. bal, balle; akin to OHG. balla, palla, G. ball, Icel. b["o]llr, ball; cf. F. balle. Cf. 1st Bale, n., Pallmall.]
Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow.
A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc.
A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football.
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.
(Pyrotechnics & Mil.) 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.
(Print.) 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cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; -- formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller.
A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body; as, the ball of the thumb; the ball of the foot.
(Far.) A large pill, a form in which medicine is commonly given to horses; a bolus.
--White.-
The globe or earth.
--Pope.Move round the dark terrestrial ball.
--Addison. -
(Baseball) A pitched ball, not struck at by the batter, which fails to pass over the home plate at a height not greater than the batter's shoulder nor less than his knee (i.e. it is outside the strike zone). If the pitcher pitches four balls before three strikes are called, the batter advances to first base, and the action of pitching four balls is called a walk.
10. a testicle; usually used in the plural. [vulgar]
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pl. courage; nerve. [vulgar]
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.
on the ball alert; competent and knowledgeable.
to carry the ball to carry on the task; to assume the responsibility.
to drop the ball to fail to perform as expected; to fail to live up to a responsibility.
Syn: See Globe.
Bearing \Bear"ing\ (b[^a]r"[i^]ng), n.
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The manner in which one bears or conducts one's self; mien; behavior; carriage.
I know him by his bearing.
--Shak. Patient endurance; suffering without complaint.
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The situation of one object, with respect to another, such situation being supposed to have a connection with the object, or influence upon it, or to be influenced by it; hence, relation; connection.
But of this frame, the bearings and the ties, The strong connections, nice dependencies.
--Pope. Purport; meaning; intended significance; aspect.
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The act, power, or time of producing or giving birth; as, a tree in full bearing; a tree past bearing.
[His mother] in travail of his bearing.
--R. of Gloucester. -
(Arch.)
That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports; as, a lintel or beam may have four inches of bearing upon the wall.
The portion of a support on which anything rests.
Improperly, the unsupported span; as, the beam has twenty feet of bearing between its supports.
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(Mach.)
The part of an axle or shaft in contact with its support, collar, or boxing; the journal.
The part of the support on which a journal rests and rotates.
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(Her.) Any single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms -- commonly in the pl.
A carriage covered with armorial bearings.
--Thackeray. -
(Naut.)
The situation of a distant object, with regard to a ship's position, as on the bow, on the lee quarter, etc.; the direction or point of the compass in which an object is seen; as, the bearing of the cape was W. N. W.
pl. The widest part of a vessel below the plank-sheer.
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pl. The line of flotation of a vessel when properly trimmed with cargo or ballast.
Ball bearings. See under Ball.
To bring one to his bearings, to bring one to his senses.
To lose one's bearings, to become bewildered.
To take bearings, to ascertain by the compass the position of an object; to ascertain the relation of one object or place to another; to ascertain one's position by reference to landmarks or to the compass; hence (Fig.), to ascertain the condition of things when one is in trouble or perplexity.
Syn: Deportment; gesture; mien; behavior; manner; carriage; demeanor; port; conduct; direction; relation; tendency; influence.
Wiktionary
n. (plural of ball bearing English)
Usage examples of "ball bearings".
He stared at them in puzzlement and then recognized a Skysweeper, a simple solid-fuel rocket that could loft a hundred-kilo load of ball bearings into the orbital path of a spy satellite.
Pea-sized drops of mercury are scattered around the floor like ball bearings.
But Queeg brought out a couple of bright steel ball bearings the size of marbles, and began rolling them absently between the thumb and fin-gers of his left hand.
Competency, expertise -- nerves like fine-spun filaments of platinum, joints like neatly mashed gears and stainless-steel ball bearings.
Fable watched in awe as the weapon danced through a score or more of ball bearings before Brandl completed the cadence and disengaged the weapon.
So did his simulation screen, which strove to show each piece of shattered crate and all five thousand, seven-hundred sixty of the superb polykel ball bearings of Jonuta's home planet.
Ours did this on ninety-six wooden ball bearings, each as big as a man's head.
He was ripping apart the one fuelless tractor which was the only remnant of the Communists, in search of ball bearings, when the cry rose up that a stranger was approaching across the fields.
He scooped up a handful of the ball bearings and rolled them in at various angles and speeds.
The ball bearings were propelled out the front of the mine, pushed by two pounds of composition C-4 plastic explosive.
Thereafter, however, the rising ball bearings flew too high to harm a standing man .
The pallets would be lifted to the plane by conveyor belts, rolled down the floor of the craft on ball bearings.
I never threw paving stones or ball bearings, out of fear that others might do unto me as I did unto them, but I experienced a kind of moral excitement escaping along narrow downtown streets when the police charged.
See, the ball bearings used by the peashooters and the dummy rounds from the Halmans was all reusable.
Three adjustable columns ending in ball bearings projected into the center at 120-degree intervals.