c.1400, from snow (n.) + ball (n.). The verb meaning "to make snowballs" is from 1684; sense of "to throw snowballs at" (someone) is from 1850. Meaning "to increase rapidly" is attested from 1929, though the image of a snowball increasing in size
as it rolls along had been used since at least 1613, and a noun sense of "a pyramid scheme" is attested from 1892. Snowball's chance (in hell) is first recorded 1934.
in. to grow at an increasing rate. (As a snowball rolling down a hill might increase in size.) : Offers to help with money and prayers began to snowball, and we had to get volunteers to help answer the phones.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source