Lexic.us

Definition of Ball up

1. Verb. Make a mess of, destroy or ruin. "The pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement"

Definition of Ball up

1. Verb. (transitive) To crush into a ball shape. ¹

2. Verb. (intransitive) to coil up into a ball. ¹

3. Verb. (intransitive) To hunch over and pull in one's arms and legs. ¹

4. Verb. (slang transitive) to ruin or botch ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Ball Up

Literary usage of Ball up

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. United States in the World War by John Bach McMaster (1918)
"... and that in the meantime Congress should be careful not to "ball up" a diplomatic situation by any kind of hasty and ill-considered action. ..."

2. The Story of the Heavens by Robert Stawell Ball (1885)
"A child can here toss a ball up fifteen or sixteen feet high, ... carry a ball up this height it must be projected with a velocity of thirty feet per second ..."

3. Notes and Queries by Martim de Albuquerque (1859)
"On this supposition the two lines will a And gouty Master Wallop Now thinks he hath the ball up.” I am informed that “ having the ball up,” and ‘I getting ..."

4. Golf for Beginners--and Others by Marshall Whitlatch (1910)
"CHAPTER VII GETTING THE ball up POWER or force is always transmitted in a straight line. This is a fundamental law of the universe. ..."

5. American Physical Education Review by American Physical Education Association, American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education (1898)
"The game is started by the referee tossing the ball up in the centre of the field at the beginning of each half, after each goal, or whenever the ball has ..."

6. The Pamirs: Being a Narrative of a Year's Expedition on Horseback and on by Charles Adolphus Murray Dunmore (1893)
"It appears that hitting the ball between the stones does not count a goal unless the striker or one of his own side pick the ball up ..."

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