popcorn ball
3
2.7
- noun
- /ˈpɑpˌkɔrn bɔl/
- US
:
bola de palomitas
- When the boys were finally ready, I sent them off over their halfhearted protests with homemade popcorn balls and packets of candy corn to share with their friends.
- caramel popcorn balls
- make popcorn balls
Examples
-
After supper, they popped popcorn and made caramel popcorn balls.
Fiction book (1990) -
My favorite Halloween candy would have to be Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and homemade molasses popcorn balls are definitely a treat!
Blog text (6) -
I got a popcorn ball!
-
A basket of popcorn balls was at the end of the chain.
Fiction book (2001) -
Will parents in your area even let kids eat homemade popcorn balls?
Blog text (15) -
We'll make popcorn balls and pull taffy.
Fiction book (1990) -
Betsy Ann was busy at home, helping her mother make popcorn balls.
Fiction book (2001) -
Ouida would make popcorn balls, then pile Little Coot and all her friends in the car like sardines and drive to the park for ghost stories.
Fiction book (1998) -
He went around back and into the kitchen, picked up a tray of popcorn balls and a bowl of bubble gum, and put them out on the screened-in porch.
Fiction book (1998) -
For the school fair, we made colorful popcorn balls coated with caramel.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a sweet snack made by shaping popcorn into a ball' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'popcorn' (the expanded corn snack) with 'ball' (a spherical mass). This is a straightforward noun-noun compound following common compounding and food-naming patterns (e.g., meatball, rice ball) that learners who know both constituents will readily understand.
Etymology
Popcorn ball The noun popcorn ball comes from the simple picture of popcorn mixed with thick sugar or syrup and pressed into a ball. So, the name came to mean 'a sweet snack made of popcorn and sugar shaped into a round'.