ballsy, a. slang (chiefly U.S.).
(ˈbɒlzɪ)
[f. balls, pl. of ball n.1 (senses 15 b, c, d) + -y1.]
a. Nonsensical, ridiculous. rare. b. Courageous, plucky; determined, spirited; also, powerful, aggressive, masculine. Cf. ball n.1 15 d.
| 1942 S. Smith ‘Girls!’ in Mother, What is Man? 15 Oh the awful balsy nonsense that this woman cried. 1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 401 Truman Capote..is tart as a grand aunt, but in his way he is a ballsy little guy. 1967 True Feb. 54/2 You need balls to slap a bug on someone. It's a very ballsy thing to do. 1970 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 15 May 34/2 It's the only Western I know that has a great part for a woman—not a dance hall, ballsy broad, but a woman. 1971 Melody Maker 9 Oct. 11/7, I suppose one could say that rock should be heavy and ballsy. 1978 J. Hyams Pool xvi. 245 He had become a ballsy man, everything her husband was not. 1983 E. Leonard LaBrava (1985) viii. 69 The old man was showing off..he knew his way around. Ballsy little eighty-year-old guy. |