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rugby ball

rugby ball

1 1.2
An oval ball filled with air that people use to play rugby
  • noun
  • /ˈrʌɡbi bɔl/
translation icon : balón de rugby
  • A rugby ball is different from a soccer ball.
  • size of a rugby ball

And we all try that, but it just happens, you know, See, I've got this rugby ball, brother got a basketball, my little brother got a football.

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Examples

  • Nana bought 'lil M his first rugby ball today; hubby insists he is going to be the best.

    Blog text (7)
  • And we all try that, but it just happens, you know, See, I've got this rugby ball, brother got a basketball, my little brother got a football.

  • You don't know where my rugby ball went, do you?

  • So this football, this, this rugby ball is always pointing towards the host star as it orbits it, right?

  • But then the eyebrows are really far forward, and the whole thing is shaped like a rugby ball.

  • The players passed the rugby ball skillfully down the field during the match.

  • He kicked the rugby ball over the goalpost to score three points for his team.

  • After practice, they played a fun game of catch with a rugby ball in the park.

Synonyms

ball
vsrugby ball
1.0

A round object used in games like football or tennis

is an oval inflated object used in a particular contact sport
football
vsrugby ball
262 1.0

A ball that is round in soccer or oval in American football

is the oval inflated object used specifically in that sport

Surface Forms

rugby ball singular
rugby balls plural

Morphology

rugby + ball

The meaning 'an oval, inflated ball used for playing rugby' is directly derivable from combining 'rugby' (the sport) with 'ball' (a play object); the compound simply names the ball associated with that sport. This noun+noun composition is a common, cross-linguistic pattern and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

The name rugby ball comes from the town and school called Rugby in England, where players used an egg-shaped ball made by blowing up animal bladders so it was not round. That's why today rugby ball means the egg-shaped, blown-up ball used to play rugby.