ball up

present singular third person balls up · participle present balling up · participle past balled up · past balled up

1. transitiveTo crush or form into a ball shape.

   She balled up her paper in frustration.

   1. transitiveTo form melted metals into balls or lumps to roll them out of a furnace for further use.
2. ambitransitiveTo coil up into a ball.

   He balled up his fists, ready to fight.

3. intransitiveTo become ball-shaped.

   Be careful, or the metal will ball up.

4. intransitiveTo hunch over and pull in one's arms and legs.

   Her son balls up in fear whenever there is a storm.

5. slangtransitiveTo ruin or botch.

   The best man balled up his speech, stammering and tripping over his words.

   2 more examples

   "They got it all balled up the night I seen it," says Bishop. "The actors forgot their lines and a man couldn't make heads or tails of it."

   1916, Ring W. Lardner, “Three Kings and a Pair”, in The Saturday Evening Post

   It's the fuel pumps. Some character has balled up the lot.

   1967 September 9, Kit Pedlar and Gerry Davis, The Tomb of the Cybermen episode 2, spoken by Captain Hopper

   Synonyms: balls up, blight, bumble, botch, bugger up, bungle, contaminate, corrupt

6. intransitiveslangTo smoke marijuana.

   Nah bro, I ain't tryna ball up tonight. I gotta focus on my studies.

   5 more examples

   someone give those mans snapping themselves balling up on their sc story a hug bro they're just lonely

   2018 December 11, @artemnooo, Twitter, archived from the original on 09 Oct 2023

   God I fucking hate weed. I wish I didn't start smoking!!! Shit is an addiction🤢 I'm on my 3rd day sober and I have a loss in appetite, n lower than usual temper. Ion wanna die young lol, and to all my friends don't link me to ball up. Y'all should quit too!but I'll drink tho 😭

   2020 November 1, @_eLEEvated, Twitter, archived from the original on 09 Oct 2023

   In Toronto, we literally have balling up rules.

   2022 May 15, theofficialplushh, TikTok, archived from the original on 19 May 2023

   Why would u want to ball up in the restaurant? Smoking and eating dont mix and its better to smoke before anyway.

   2022 December 23, u/StickyIgloo, “RESTAURANTS TO BALL UP IN?”, in Reddit, r/Torontology, archived from the original on 09 Oct 2023

   stop trying to make him quit let him ball up one day hes gonna get so high hes gonna be scared to ball up

   2023 September 30, u/Eletric_Degle, “I just caught my 14 year old lil bro balling up”, in Reddit, r/Torontology, archived from the original on 09 Oct 2023

7. intransitiveball gamesTo play basketball, especially playing well.
8. intransitiveslangbowlingTo switch to using a stronger bowling ball.

   Antonyms: ball down

9. hobbiesTo become covered in damp snow.
10. intransitiveTo produce a lip of debris around the drill hole.
11. USdatedintransitiveslangtransitiveTo become confused or discombobulated; to confuse (someone).