HANDBALL

handball

(noun) a game played in a walled court or against a single wall by two or four players who strike a rubber ball with their hands

handball

(noun) a small rubber ball used in playing the game of handball

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

handball (countable and uncountable, plural handballs)

(uncountable) A team sport where two teams of seven players each (six players and a goalkeeper) pass and bounce a ball trying to throw it in the goal of the opposing team.

(countable) The medium-sized inflated ball used in this sport.

(countable, soccer) The offence of a player other than the goalkeeper touching the ball with the hand or arm on the field during play.

(uncountable, US, Ireland) A sport in which players alternately strike the ball against a wall with their hand. Irish and American variants have slightly different rules.

(countable, US) The small rubber ball used in this sport.

(countable, Australian Rules Football) An act of passing a football by holding it with one hand and hitting it with the other.

(uncountable, Australia) A schoolyard game in which a tennis ball is struck with the hand, played on a improvised court on the asphalt or pavement.

Synonyms

• (team sport involving throwing a ball into a goal): European handball, Olympic handball, team handball

• (sport involving bouncing a ball off a wall): court handball

Hyponyms

• (court handball): American handball, Gaelic handball, Irish handball

Verb

handball (third-person singular simple present handballs, present participle handballing, simple past and past participle handballed)

To manually load or unload a container, trailer, or to otherwise manually move bulk goods (often on pallets) from one type of transport receptacle to another.

(soccer) To illegally touch the ball with the hand or arm.

Synonym: handle

(Australian rules football) To (legally) pass a football by holding it with one hand and hitting it with the other.

(sexuality, slang) To insert a hand into someone's anus.

Source: Wiktionary

Hand"ball`, n.

1. A ball for throwing or using with the hand.

2. A game played with such a ball, as by players striking it to and fro between them with the hands, or alternately against a wall, until one side or the other fails to return the ball.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition