handball

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A team sport where two teams of seven players each (six players and a goalkeeper) pass and bounce a ball trying to throw it in the goal of the opposing team.
  2. The medium-sized inflated ball used in this sport.
  3. The offence of a player other than the goalkeeper touching the ball with the hand or arm on the field during play.
  4. A sport in which players alternately strike the ball against a wall with their hand. Irish and American variants have slightly different rules.
  5. The small rubber ball used in this sport.
  6. An act of passing a football by holding it with one hand and hitting it with the other.
  7. A schoolyard game in which a tennis ball is struck with the hand, played on an improvised court on the asphalt or pavement.
verb
  1. To manually load or unload a container, trailer, or to otherwise manually move bulk goods (often on pallets) from one type of transport receptacle to another.
  2. To illegally touch the ball with the hand or arm.
  3. To (legally) pass a football by holding it with one hand and hitting it with the other.
  4. To pass responsibility for a task or problem to someone else, often to avoid dealing with an undesirable task or a tricky question.
  5. To insert a hand into someone's anus.

Pronunciation

en-us-handball.ogg EN-AU ck1 handball.ogg

Word forms

handball handballs handballing handballed

Etymology

From hand + ball.

Synonyms

sport involving bouncing a ball off a wall European handball Olympic handball team handball handle offload
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