meatball

plural meatballs · alternative meat ball

1. A ball of minced or ground meat, seasoned and cooked.

   Meatballs were on the menu for lunch.

   2 more examples

   Meatballs may contain ground meat mixed with seasonings, breadcrumbs, mashed potatoes, rice, and liquid. The meat mixture is often shaped, browned. and simmered in a sauce for 30 to 45 minutes over low heat or in a 350° F. oven. During cooking the meat is basted with the sauce occasionally. Meatballs also may be fried in a pan or in deep fat.

   1894, Yearbook of Agriculture

   1996: Mrs. Miracle. Debbie Macomber. Pg. 101. I prefer spaghetti with meatballs instead the meat all crumbled in with the sauce.

2. slangA stupid person; a meathead.
3. ball gamesAn easy pitch to hit, especially thrown right down the middle of the plate.

   And then. A 98.4 fastball on the inside half of the plate, ring him up, Strike 3, game over. It wasn’t a meatball like Terrence Long watched to finish 2003 ALDS Game 5, but it felt the same.

   2020, Alex Hall, “Oakland A’s faced all their nightmares in Game 3 and wrote a new ending”, in Athletics Nation

4. aeronauticsAn optical landing system.

   During a pitching deck recovery a pilot must average out the meatball oscillations at the ramp in an attempt to maintain his airplane on the desired glide slope.

   1961, Approach, volume 7

5. computingA menu icon of three horizontal dots.
6. abbreviationellipsishobbiesEllipsis of meatball flag.