cup-and-ball

plural cup-and-balls · plural cups-and-balls

1. A traditional children's toy consisting of a hand-held wooden cup with a ball attached by a string. The player jerks the ball into the air and attempts to catch it in the cup.

   1 more example

   When I was at Motiers, I used to employ myself in making laces with my neighbors, and were I again to mix with the world, I would always carry a cup-and-ball in my pocket; I should sometimes play with it the whole day, that I might not be constrained to speak when I had nothing to discourse about; and I am persuaded, that if every one would do the same, mankind would be less mischievous, their company would become more rational, and, in my opinion, a vast deal more agreeable; in a word, let wits laugh if they please, but I maintain, that the only practical lesson of morality within the reach of the present age, is that of the cup-and-ball.

   1782, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, translated by Samuel William Orson, The Confessions of J. J. Rousseau, Book V, published 1903

   Synonyms: bilboquet