billiard ball
4
2.9
- noun
- /ˈbɪljərd bɔl/
:
bola de billar
- Her story was interrupted by the sound of billiard balls as she changed positions and aimed.
- size of a billiard ball
But take almost any billiard ball on the table.
- But take almost any billiard ball on the table.
- Then another billiard ball comes in, hits the one that's at rest.
- So there's some structure there, but the structure isn't just a matter of the actual things with the actual billiard balls that are banging into each other.
- First of all, OK, mechanics had to do with like particles, little, little hard, messy billiard balls moving around through space and time colliding, right?
- They showed that modeling billiard balls on a billiard table with cellular automata is a universal computer.
- That feels right to me, and I feel like there are billiard balls bouncing into each other that if we step back we'd be able to predict where this ends.
- It would take millions of years, millions of years by random collisions of billiard balls.
- OK, which we were going to be, which we were going to be able to understand in the way we understand billiard balls colliding with one another or something like that.
Examples
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In a deterministic physical system like a game of billiards, all billiard balls end up in their final locations; for if not, then momentum is not conserved.
Blog text (25) -
But take almost any billiard ball on the table.
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"Rather like the billiard balls in a bad club."
Fiction book (1999) -
Then another billiard ball comes in, hits the one that's at rest.
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A rack of billiard balls explodes from the break.
Fiction book (1995) -
Newton's laws are used to predict things like the fall of apples, the motions of planets, and the motions of billiard balls after, but not before, they are struck with a pool cue.
Blog text (25) -
The player carefully lined up the shot, aiming for the corner pocket with a perfect billiard ball in hand.
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He polished the billiard ball until it shone, preparing for a game with friends.
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In the game, each billiard ball must be struck precisely to achieve the right angle for a successful shot.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A round object used in games like football or tennis
1
2.7
A small round object that players hit in pool, usually numbered and colored
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a ball used to play billiards' is directly and compositionally derived from 'billiard' (related to the game) modifying 'ball' (a round play object). This modifier+head noun pattern is transparent and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The noun billiard ball comes from the game billiards and the word ball. Imagine a small, hard ball rolling on a table and striking other balls — that's why billiard ball means 'a hard ball used to play billiards' today.