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Ball vs Chain - What's the difference?

ball | chain |

As nouns the difference between ball and chain

is that ball is while chain is a series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.

As a verb chain is

to fasten something with a chain.

ball

English

(wikipedia ball)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • A solid or hollow sphere, or part thereof.
  • # A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape.
  • # (label) A solid, spherical nonexplosive missile for a cannon, etc.
  • ## A jacketed non-expanding bullet, typically of military origin.
  • # A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body.
  • # (label) The front of the bottom of the foot, just behind the toes.
  • # The globe; the earthly sphere.
  • #* (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • Move round the dark terrestrial ball .
  • #* 1717 , (Alexander Pope), ""
  • Thus, if eternal Justice rules the ball , / Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall;
  • # (label) The set of points in a metric space lying within a given distance (the radius) of a given point; specifically, the homologue of the disk in a Euclidean space of any number of dimensions.
  • # The set of points in a topological space lying within some open set containing a given point; the analogue of the disk in a Euclidean space.
  • # An object, generally spherical, used for playing games.
  • #* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=3/19/2
  • , passage=Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house?; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something?; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.}}
  • #* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 2, author=Aled Williams, work=BBC Sport Wales
  • , title= Swansea 2-0 Stoke , passage=Graham secured victory with five minutes left, coolly lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic.}}
  • (label) The use of a round or ellipsoidal object.
  • # Any simple game involving a ball.
  • # (label) A pitch that falls outside of the strike zone.
  • # (label) An opportunity to launch the pinball into play.
  • # (label) A single delivery by the bowler, six of which make up an over.
  • # (label) A pass; a kick of the football towards a teammate.
  • #* {{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 29, author=Chris Whyatt, work=BBC
  • , title= Chelsea 1-0 Bolton , passage=After Essien's poor attempt flew into the stands, Rodrigo Moreno - Bolton's on-loan winger from Benfica who was making his full Premier League debut - nearly exposed the Blues with a lovely ball for Johan Elmander, but it just skipped away from his team-mate's toes. }}
  • A testicle.
  • # Nonsense.
  • — Synonyms — See
  • # Courage.
  • A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the roller.
  • A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.
  • (White)
    Synonyms
    * sphere * globe * (testicle) See * (courage) chutzpah, guts, nerve
    Derived terms
    (solid or hollow sphere) {{der3, ball and chain , ball and socket , ball-barrow , ball bearing/ball-bearing , ball boy/ballboyball-boy , ball-cartridge , ballclay , ballcock , ball-flower , ball-game , ball-girl , ball lightning , ball machine , ball mill , ball of fire , ball of the foot , ball of the thumb , ballpark , ball-player , ballpoint , ball-proof , ball race , ball up , bandy-ball , baseball , basketball , beachball/beach ball , best-ball , billiard ball , blackball , blowball , blueball , brandy-ball , broomball , buckyball , butterball , button-ball , cannonball , coalball , cornball , cricket ball , croquet ball , crystal ball , cue ball , dust-ball , eight ball/eight-ball , eyeball , fastball , fire-ball , fishball , football , four ball , freeball , furball , fuzz-ball , game ball , get the ball rolling , goalball , golf ball , goofball , greaseball , hair-ball , half-ball , hand-ball , hardball , heel-ball , highball , holding the ball , jump ball , keep the ball rolling , kickball , korfball , matzo ball , meatball , medicine ball , , mothball , netball , no ball , object ball , oddball , on the ball , paintball , patball , pinball , ping-pong ball , pithball , play ball , puffball , punchball , push-ball , racquetball , rollerball , root-ball , rugby ball , scuzzball , silver ball , skittle-ball , sleazeball , slimeball , smoke-ball , snooker ball , snowball , soccer ball , softball , speedball , spot the ball , stink ball , stoolball , table-tennis ball , tea ball , tennis ball , tchoukball , the ball is in your court , through ball , time-ball , too many balls in the air , trackball, trackerball , trap-ball , volleyball , washball}} (testicle) {{der3, ball-breaker , ball-breaking , ball-buster , ball-busting , balls-aching , balls up (verb) , balls-up (noun) , ballsy , have someone by the balls , screwball}}

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To form or wind into a ball.
  • to ball cotton
  • (label) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
  • To have sexual intercourse with.
  • (label) To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.
  • The horse balls'''; the snow '''balls .
  • To be hip or cool.
  • Synonyms
    * (vulgar) bonk, fuck, lay, screw, shag (British)

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (label) An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player. This is heard almost any time an opposition player is tackled, without regard to whether the rules about "prior opportunity" to dispose of the ball are fulfilled.
  • 2007: A good tackle (and some bad ones) will bring a cry of "Ball!" from the crowd – a plea for a holding the ball free kick. — AFL Sydney Swans Rules Zone [http://www.afl.com.au/FanZone/Rules/tabid/7892/Default.aspx]

    Etymology 2

    (m).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A formal dance.
  • (label) A very enjoyable time.
  • Synonyms
    * (very enjoyable time) blast, whale of a time
    Derived terms
    {{der3, ball-dress , ballgown , ballroom , have a ball , hunt ball , masked ball , open the ball}}

    chain

    English

    (wikipedia chain)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.
  • He wore a gold chain around the neck .
  • A series of interconnected things.
  • a chain of mountains
    a chain of ideas, one leading to the next
    This led to an unfortunate chain of events .
  • A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name.
  • That chain of restaurants is expanding into our town .
  • (chemistry) A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.
  • When examined, the molecular chain included oxygen and hydrogen .
  • (surveying) A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device.
  • (surveying) A long measuring tape.
  • A unit of length equal to 22 yards. The length of a Gunter's surveying chain. The length of a cricket pitch. Equal to 20.12 metres. Equal to 4 rods. Equal to 100 links.
  • (mathematics, order theory) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.
  • (British) A sequence of linked house purchases, each of which is dependent on the preceding and succeeding purchase (said to be "broken" if a buyer or seller pulls out).
  • That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.
  • the chains of habit
  • * Milton
  • Driven down / To chains of darkness and the undying worm.
  • (nautical, in the plural) Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
  • (weaving) The warp threads of a web.
  • (Knight)

    Synonyms

    *

    Derived terms

    * Albert chain * ball and chain * bra chain * chaincase * chain drive * chain gang * chain gun * chain letter * chain lightning * chainlink * chainlink fence * chain mail, chainmail * chainman * chain of command * chain of custody * chain of events * chain of production * chain of thought * chain of title * chain pickerel * chainplate * chain pump * chain reaction * chainring * chain rule * chainsaw, chain saw * chain shot * chain-smoke * chain smoker * chainsmoking, chain-smoking * chain stitch * chain store * chain story * daisy chain, daisy-chain * food chain * green chain * Gunter's chain, Gunter's Chain * heterochain * hogchain * homochain * interchain * intrachain * keychain, key chain * Markov chain * megachain * mountain chain * off the chain * retail chain * side chain, sidechain * signifying chain * snow chain * subchain * supply chain * toolchain * waist chain

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fasten something with a chain.
  • To link multiple items together.
  • To secure someone with fetters.
  • To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain.
  • (computing) To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
  • (computing) To be chained to another data item.
  • To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
  • To load and automatically run (a program).
  • * 1996 , "Mr D Walsh", Running two programs from a batch file'' (on newsgroup ''comp.sys.acorn.misc )
  • How do you get one program to chain another? I want to run DrawWorks2 then !Draw but as soon as you run Drawworks2 it finishes the batch file and doesn't go on to the next instruction! Is there a way without loading one of these automatic loaders?
  • * 1998 , "Juan Flynn", BBC software transmitted on TV - how to load?'' (on newsgroup ''comp.sys.acorn.misc )
  • You can do LOAD "" or CHAIN "" to load or chain the next program if I remember correctly (it's been a loooong time since I've used a tape on an Acorn!)
  • * 2006 , "Richard Porter", SpamStamp double headers'' (on newsgroup ''comp.sys.acorn.apps )
  • Recent versions of AntiSpam no longer use the Config file but have a Settings file instead, so when I updated the Config file to chain SpamStamp it had no effect as it was a redundant file.

    References

    * * * OED 2nd edition 1989

    Anagrams

    *