ball game

ball game

See also: ballgame

English

Alternative forms

• ballgame

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔːl ˌɡeɪm/

Noun

ball game (plural ball games)

1. Any game played with a ball.

   Basketball, cricket, and football are three kinds of ball game.

2. A specific contest or match between teams playing such a game, in particular a baseball game.

   George and Harriet went to the stadium to see the ball game.

3. (historical) A sport played in the Aztec and Mayan civilizations; Mesoamerican ballgame.

   The ball game was the main sport in Central America before the arrival of the Spanish.

4. (figurative) Affair, issue, matter, subject, story, topic.
   • 1983, Joseph Stinson, Sudden Impact, spoken by Captain Briggs (Bradford Dillman):

     Think things over, Callahan. Get with it. It's a whole new ball game these days.

5. (figurative, slang) A decisive outcome in regard to some ongoing situation; game over.

   If a U.S. presidential candidate receives 270 electoral votes, that's the ball game.

Translations

game played with a ball

Albanian: lojës topin Arabic: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: топката игра f (topkata igra) Catalan: esport de pilota (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 球類運動／球类运动 (qiúlèi yùndòng) Czech: míčová hra f Danish: boldspil (da) n Dutch: balspel (nl) n Finnish: pallopeli (fi), palloilulaji (fi) French: jeu de ballon m Galician: xogo de pelota German: Ballspiel (de) n Greek: παιχνίδι μπάλα n (paichnídi bála) Hungarian: labdajáték (hu) Icelandic: boltaíþrótt f, knattleikur m Indonesian: permainan bola Japanese: 球技 (ja) (kyūgi) Lushootseed: ʔupups Norwegian: Bokmål: ballspill n Nynorsk: ballspel n Portuguese: jogo de bola m Romanian: joc cu mingea n Russian: игра́ с мячо́м f (igrá s mjačóm) Serbo-Croatian: lopta igra Spanish: juego de pelota m Swedish: bollspel (sv) n Volapük: glöpäd (vo)

specific match

Chinese: Mandarin: 球賽／球赛 (zh) (qiúsài) Danish: please add this translation if you can Finnish: peli (fi); ottelu (fi), matsi (fi) French: please add this translation if you can Portuguese: jogo de bola m Russian: матч (ru) m (matč), игра́ (ru) f (igrá) Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Mesoamerican ballgame

Chinese: Mandarin: 中美洲蹴球 (Zhōngměizhōu cùqiú) Danish: please add this translation if you can Finnish: pallopeli (fi) French: jeu de balle m Portuguese: jogo de bola m Russian: тла́чтли (tláčtli) Spanish: please add this translation if you can

affair, issue

Chinese: Mandarin: 事情 (zh) (shìqing), 事 (zh) (shì) Danish: please add this translation if you can Finnish: juttu (fi), asia (fi) French: sujet (fr) m, question (fr) f, problème (fr) m Portuguese: parada (pt) (Brazil) Russian: please add this translation if you can Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Anagrams

• Gemballa, game ball, gameball