Basketballs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An inflated spherical object used in the sport of basketball, designed for dribbling, shooting, and passing
2. a game ball which players aim to score points by throwing it through the opponent's hoop
3. a popular recreational item often used for exercise, training, and casual play among individuals and teams

Etymology: The plural "basketballs" is simply the ordinary plural of "basketball," the game ball used in the sport of the same name. The sport takes its name from two older English words that were joined together, "basket" and "ball." "Basket" came into English through Middle English from Anglo-Norman "bascet," and before that from Late Latin "bascauda," a word for a kind of wicker vessel, and its ultimate ancestry reaches back to ancient Celtic roots. "Ball" traces back through Middle English "bal" and Old English "beall" to a Proto-Germanic root meaning a round object. The "basket" in the name refers to the goal itself, which in the sport's early form was a literal container. Its meaning as a round, hand-thrown object is the older and more basic sense, so the combined word simply describes a round object played into a basket.

Synonyms: balls, sports balls, footballs, volleyballs, soccer balls