hand-ball
1. A ball for throwing with the hand.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 1771 Se quat I send to þe, son, þi⁓selfe with to laike, A hatt & and a hand-balle, & a hernepanne. 1483 Cath. Angl. 173/1 An Hand balle, pila manualis. 1846 Greener Sc. Gunnery 296 Throw a hand⁓ball against any moveable body, and it will displace that body. |
2. A game played with such a ball in a space between two distant goals.
(An annual hand-ball contest (usually on a holiday in spring) is an ancient institution in towns, villages, and parishes in the south of Scotland: see ball n.1 4 b.)
| 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxvii. (1887) 105 The litle handball is counted to be a swift exercise. 1777 Brand Pop. Antiq. (1870) I. 98 It was customary in some churches for the Bishops and Archbishops themselves to play with the inferior clergy at hand-ball..even on Easter-day itself. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. ii. iii. 84 The game of handball was indiscriminately played by both sexes. 1897 Harper's Mag. XCIV. 256/1 In a large open space reserved for the boys to play handball. |
3. A hollow ball of india-rubber punctured so as to emit a spray of fluid when pressed in the hand.
| 1888 Med. News LII. 639 Whether the spray be given with a handball spray apparatus or with a small steam vaporizer. 1896 T. C. Allbutt Syst. Med. I. 305 The hand⁓ball sprays are used at ordinary temperatures. |
4. A game resembling fives.
| 1886 G. H. Benedict Spaldings Hand Bk. Sporting Rules 45 A game of hand ball shall consist of twenty-one aces, to be played with a ball about two inches in diameter. 1910 Encycl. Brit. X. 450/2 Handball, of ancient popularity in Ireland and much played in the United States, is practically identical with fives. 1957 Ibid. IX. 339/1 Certain forms of the games [of fives] in the United States, in Ireland and in some parts of the north of England are known as handball. Ibid. XI. 141/1 There is evidence that handball originated in Ireland about a thousand years ago. Ibid. 142/1 The game of Irish handball..was played on a hard clay floor, with one wall of stone,..against which the ball was struck. 1961 J. S. Salak Dict. Amer. Sports 215 Handball, a wall game in which a black rubber ball is struck with the hand against a wall, or walls, the ball being struck alternately by opposing players. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 48/1 (Advt.), Regulation-size squash and handball courts. |
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Add: 5. Austral. Nat. Football. The act of passing the ball by holding it in one hand and striking it with the fist of the other; = handpass n. s.v. *hand n. B. 65.
| 1859 in C. C. Mullen Hist. Austral. Rules Football (1959) 11 Handball will only be allowed if the ball is held clearly in one hand and punched or hit out with the other. 1900 B. Kerr Silliad 31 Now Titus Green burst through the bustling throng And by nice handball brought the ball along. 1963 L. Richards Boots & All! 81 Len Smith must go down in football history for inventing a new style of hand-ball—even though it borders on a throw. 1982 Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Sept. 36/3 Standard handball..punching an oval ball with the clenched fist. |
6. Assoc. Football. The act of handling the ball, esp. illegally, during play; = hand n. 1 f; also, an instance of this.
| 1907 Westm. Gaz. 12 Dec. 10/4 When there are two referees one of them has little chance of seeing a kick, or a hand-ball over on the far side of the field. 1978 Morecambe Guardian 14 Mar. 10/4 Myles was booked for a deliberate hand-ball in stopping an attack. 1986 Daily Tel. 23 June 38/2 Television play backs make it quite clear that Maradona's all-important first goal should have been disallowed for handball. |
Hence (in senses 5 and 6) handball v. intr.; handballing vbl. n.
| 1963 Footy Fan (Melbourne) I. vii. 10 He is able to handball with both hands. 1967 Australian 17 Apr. 12 Essendon's team-work was also astray except for some passing and handballing from Birt and Clarke. 1976 Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 15 Nov. 15/8 Ray Deane brought Road-Sea back on level terms with a penalty six minutes later after Harris had hand-balled in the area. 1988 Times 15 Nov. 48/1 I'm a professional trying to win a game... Whether that means handballing accidentally-on-purpose or up-ending someone, I'd do it. |