pinball

English

Etymology

From pin +‎ ball.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪnˌbɔːl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

pinball (countable and uncountable, plural pinballs)

1. (games) A game, played on a device with a sloping base, in which the player operates a spring-loaded plunger to shoot a ball, between obstacles, and attempts to hit targets and score points.
2. The ball used in pinball.
3. (figuratively, soccer) A situation where a ball is frantically kicked between many players.
   • 2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     The opener came from a Jarvis ball which struck Aleksandar Kolarov en route to a lively round of pinball between City players before it was poked in by Milijas.

Synonyms

• silver ball

Derived terms

• pinball machine

Descendants

• → Portuguese: pinball
• → Spanish: pinball

Translations

game

• Bulgarian: флипер m (fliper)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 彈球／弹球 (zh) (dànqiú), 釘球戲／钉球戏 (dīngqiúxì)

• Dutch: flipperkast (nl) f, flipperspel n
• Esperanto: flipero
• Finnish: flipperi (fi)
• French: flipper (fr) m
• German: Flipper (de) m, Flipperspiel n
• Greek: φλίπερ (el) n (flíper), φλιπεράκι (el) n (fliperáki)
• Hungarian: flipper (hu)
• Italian: flipper (it) m
• Japanese: ピンボール (pinbōru)
• Macedonian: флипер m (fliper), флиперска игра f (fliperska igra)
• Portuguese: pinball m
• Russian: пинбо́л (ru) m (pinból)
• Swedish: flipperspel (sv) n
• Turkish: tilt oyunu

ball

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 波子 (bo¹ zi²)

• Finnish: flipperipallo, pallo (fi)
• French: bille (fr) f
• Hungarian: flippergolyó, golyó (hu)

Verb

pinball (third-person singular simple present pinballs, present participle pinballing, simple past and past participle pinballed)

1. (intransitive) To dart about rapidly.
   • 1996, Peter Applebome, Dixie Rising: How the South is Shaping American Values, Politics and Culture:

     Like most immigrants, Gibbs came South for economic reasons and soon found himself pinballing around a world circumscribed by the hot growth markets...

   • 2004, David Baldacci, Hour Game:

     They went off the road and pinballed alongside a stretch of guardrail as the Bambis scattered.

Translations

to dart about rapidly

• Finnish: singahdella (fi)

See also

• bagatelle
• pachinko

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English pinball.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pĩˈbɔw/ [pĩˈbɔʊ̯]

Noun

pinball m (plural pinballs)

1. (games) pinball (an arcade game)

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English pinball.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpimbal/ [ˈpĩm.bal]
  • Rhymes: -imbal
• IPA^(key): /ˈpimbol/ [ˈpĩm.bol]
  • Rhymes: -imbol

Noun

pinball m (plural pinballs)

1. pinball

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.