pinball

pinball

English

Etymology

From pin +‎ ball.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪnˌbɔːl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

pinball (countable and uncountable, plural pinballs)

1. (games) A game, played on a device with a sloping base, in which the player operates a spring-loaded plunger to shoot a ball, between obstacles, and attempts to hit targets and score points.
2. The ball used in pinball.
3. (figuratively, soccer) A situation where a ball is frantically kicked between many players.
   • 2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC‎:

     The opener came from a Jarvis ball which struck Aleksandar Kolarov en route to a lively round of pinball between City players before it was poked in by Milijas.

Synonyms

• silver ball

Derived terms

• pinball machine

Descendants

• → Portuguese: pinball
• → Spanish: pinball

Translations

game

Bulgarian: флипер m (fliper) Chinese: Mandarin: 彈球／弹球 (zh) (dànqiú), 釘球戲／钉球戏 (dīngqiúxì) Dutch: flipperkast (nl) f, flipperspel n Esperanto: flipero Finnish: flipperi (fi) French: flipper (fr) m German: Flipper (de) m, Flipperspiel n Greek: φλίπερ (el) n (flíper), φλιπεράκι (el) n (fliperáki) Hungarian: flipper (hu) Italian: flipper (it) m Japanese: ピンボール (pinbōru) Macedonian: флипер m (fliper), флиперска игра f (fliperska igra) Portuguese: pinball m Russian: пинбо́л m (pinból) Swedish: flipperspel (sv) n Turkish: tilt oyunu

ball

Chinese: Cantonese: 波子 Finnish: flipperipallo, pallo (fi) French: bille (fr) f Hungarian: flippergolyó, golyó (hu)

Verb

pinball (third-person singular simple present pinballs, present participle pinballing, simple past and past participle pinballed)

1. (intransitive) To dart about rapidly.
   • 1996, Peter Applebome, Dixie Rising: How the South is Shaping American Values, Politics and Culture:

     Like most immigrants, Gibbs came South for economic reasons and soon found himself pinballing around a world circumscribed by the hot growth markets...

   • 2004, David Baldacci, Hour Game:

     They went off the road and pinballed alongside a stretch of guardrail as the Bambis scattered.

Translations

to dart about rapidly

Finnish: singahdella (fi)

See also

• bagatelle
• pachinko

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Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English pinball.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pĩˈbɔw/ [pĩˈbɔʊ̯]

Noun

pinball m (plural pinballs)

1. (games) pinball (an arcade game)

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Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English pinball.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpimbal/ [ˈpĩm.bal]
  • Rhymes: -imbal
• IPA^(key): /ˈpimbol/ [ˈpĩm.bol]
  • Rhymes: -imbol

Noun

pinball m (plural pinballs)

1. pinball

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.