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drop the ball

 - 7 dictionary results
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ball

1  [bawl]
Use drop the ball in a Sentence
–noun
1. a spherical or approximately spherical body or shape; sphere: He rolled the piece of paper into a ball.
2. a round or roundish body, of various sizes and materials, either hollow or solid, for use in games, as baseball, football, tennis, or golf.
3. a game played with a ball, esp. baseball: The boys are out playing ball.
4. Baseball. a pitched ball, not swung at by the batter, that does not pass over home plate between the batter's shoulders and knees.
5. Military.
a. a solid, usually spherical projectile for a cannon, rifle, pistol, etc., as distinguished from a shell.
b. projectiles, esp. bullets, collectively.
6. any part of a thing, esp. of the human body, that is rounded or protuberant: the ball of the thumb.
7. a round mass of food, as of chopped meat, dough, or candy.
8. Slang: Vulgar. a testis.
9. balls, Slang: Vulgar.
a. boldness; courage; brashness.
b. nonsense (often used as an interjection).
10. bolus (def. 1).
11. Horticulture. a compact mass of soil covering the roots of an uprooted tree or other plant.
12. Literary. a planetary or celestial body, esp. the earth.
13. Mathematics. (in a metric space) the set of points whose distance from the zero element is less than, or less than or equal to, a specified number.
–verb (used with object)
14. to make into a ball (sometimes fol. by up): The children were balling up snow to make a snowman.
15. to wind into balls: to ball cotton.
16. Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse with.
–verb (used without object)
17. to form or gather into a ball: When the spun sugar balls, the candy has cooked sufficiently.
18. Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse.
—Verb phrase
19. ball up, Slang. to make or become utterly confused; muddle: The records had been all balled up by inefficient file clerks.
—Idioms
20. ball the jack, Slang.
a. to act with speed.
b. to stake everything on one attempt.
21. carry the ball, to assume the responsibility; bear the burden: You can always count on him to carry the ball in an emergency.
22. drop the ball, to make a mistake or miss an opportunity at a critical moment.
23. keep the ball rolling, to continue or give renewed vigor to an activity already under way: When their interest lagged, he tried to keep the ball rolling.
24. on the ball,
a. alert and efficient or effective: If you don't get on the ball, you'll be fired.
b. indicating intelligence or ability: The tests show your students don't have much on the ball. The new manager has a lot on the ball.
25. play ball,
a. to begin or continue playing a game.
b. to start or continue any action.
c. to work together; cooperate: union leaders suspected of playing ball with racketeers.
26. run with the ball, to assume responsibility or work enthusiastically: If management approves the concept, we'll run with the ball.
27. start the ball rolling, to put into operation; begin: The recreation director started the ball rolling by having all the participants introduce themselves.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME bal, balle < OF < Gmc *ballaz; cf. ON bǫllr, OHG bal, ballo, balla, G Ball, D bal; perh. akin to L follis leather bag; see ballock

Related forms:
baller, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Slang Dictionary
ball

  1. n.
    a wild time at a party; a good time. : We really had a ball. See ya!
  2. n.
    a testicle. (Usually plural. Usually objectionable. See also balls.) : The teacher preferred “testicles” to “balls,” if they had to be mentioned at all.
  3. in.
    to enjoy oneself. (Ambiguous with the next sense.) : The whole crowd was balling and having a fine time.
  4. in.
    to depart; to leave. : It's late. Let's ball.
  5. tv. & in.
    to copulate [with] someone. (Usually objectionable.) : Isn't there anything more to you than balling?
  6. in.
    to play a ball game. (Probably a deliberate pun on sense 5.) : Bob's out balling with the guys.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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drop the ball

  1. tv.
    to fail at something; to allow something to fail. : I didn't want to be the one who dropped the ball, but I knew that someone would flub up.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

ball  (1)
"round object," O.E., from O.N. bollr "ball," from P.Gmc. *balluz (cf. O.H.G. ballo, Ger. Ball), from PIE base *bhel- "to swell" (see bole). The verb meaning "copulate" is first recorded 1940s in jazz slang. To be on the ball is 1912, from sports. Ball-point pen first recorded 1947. Ball of fire when first recorded in 1821 referred to "a glass of brandy;" as "spectacularly successful striver" it is c.1900. Ball and chain as a prisoner's restraint is recorded from 1835; as "one's wife," early 1920s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 2ball
Function: transitive verb
: to give a medicinal ball to (as a horse)
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

ball (bôl)
n.

  1. A spherical object or mass.

  2. A bezoar.

  3. A large pill or bolus.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Idioms & Phrases

drop the ball

Make an error; miss an opportunity. For example, She really dropped the ball when she forgot to call back, or He dropped the ball, turning down their offer. This expression comes from sports where a player who fails to catch a ball is charged with an error. Its use for more general kinds of mistakes dates from about 1950.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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