pinball

plural pinballs

1. countableuncountablegamesA game, played on a device with a sloping base (a pinball machine), in which the player operates a spring-loaded plunger to shoot a ball, between obstacles, and attempts to hit targets and score points.
2. countableuncountableThe ball used in pinball.
3. countablefigurativelyuncountableball gamesA situation where a ball is frantically kicked between many players.

   The opener came from a Jarvis ball which struck Aleksandar Kolarov en route to a lively round of pinball between City players before it was poked in by Milijas.

   2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC

present singular third person pinballs · participle present pinballing · participle past pinballed · past pinballed

1. intransitiveTo dart about rapidly.

   They went off the road and pinballed alongside a stretch of guardrail as the Bambis scattered.

   2004, David Baldacci, Hour Game

   1 more example

   Like most immigrants, Gibbs came South for economic reasons and soon found himself pinballing around a world circumscribed by the hot growth markets...

   1996, Peter Applebome, Dixie Rising: How the South is Shaping American Values, Politics and Culture