bald as a billiard ball
- idiom
- Archaic
- The old professor was bald as a billiard ball, which made him easily recognizable on campus.
Examples
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Kids joked that their father was bald as a billiard ball after his annual summer shave.
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After chemotherapy, he was bald as a billiard ball and wore hats to keep warm.
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He is bald as a billiard ball!
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Look at his head; it's bald as a billiard ball.
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After years of struggling with hair loss, he finally embraced being bald as a billiard ball.
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The comedian joked that he was bald as a billiard ball, making everyone laugh with his playful attitude.
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She decided to shave her head completely, and now she is bald as a billiard ball.
Synonyms
Having little or no hair on the head
Having no fur or small threads that grow on the skin
Having little or no hair on the top of the head
Having no hair on the body
A part of the body that has no hair
Having little or no hair on the top of the head
A person with no hair on their head
Having little or no hair on the head
Antonyms
How Bald
Surface Forms
Morphology
bald + as + a + billiard + ball
This is a straightforward simile: combining 'bald' with a comparison to a 'billiard ball' (a smooth, hairless ball) directly conveys complete lack of hair. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words can derive the meaning because the comparison is compositional and based on visible physical properties, a common and predictable figurative pattern.
Etymology
Bald as a billiard ball comes from the shiny, smooth look of a billiard ball, a round, glossy ball used in pool games that looks like a hairless head. So people use it to mean 'completely bald'.