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Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow.

An ornament resembling a ball placed in a circular flower, the petals of which form a cup round it, -- usually inserted in a hollow molding.

A popular kind of narrative poem, adapted for recitation or singing; as, the ballad of Chevy Chase; esp., a sentimental or romantic poem in short stanzas.

A seller or maker of ballads; a poetaster. Shak.

A form of French versification, sometimes imitated in English, in which three or four rhymes recur through three stanzas of eight or ten lines each, the stanzas concluding with a refrain, and the whole poem with an envoy.

A writer of ballads.

Ballad poems; the subject or style of ballads. "Base balladry is so beloved." Drayton.

A fast-sailing schooner, used in the Bermudas and West Indies.

To bully; to threaten. [Low] T. Warton.

Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness.

A toll paid for the privilege of taking up ballast in a port or harbor.

That which is used for steadying anything; ballast.

See Balladry. [Obs.] Milton.

The company of persons who perform the ballet.

An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.

A crossbow. [Obs.]

Of or pertaining to the ballista, or to the art of hurling stones or missile weapons by means of an engine.

The science or art of hurling missile weapons by the use of an engine. Whewell.

A smokeless powder containing equal parts of soluble nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin.

See Bailey.