▪ I. ballock
(ˈbɒlək)
Not in polite use. Forms: 1 bealluc, 4 ballok, 4–5 ballokke, -oke, 5 balluk, -uc, balok, -ock, 6 ballocke, 6– ballock.
[Prob. a deriv. of Teut. ball- (see ball n.1), of which the OE. repr. would be *beall-u, -a, or -e.]
1. a. A testicle.
| c 1000 Gloss. in Wright Voc. (W.) /265 Testiculi, beallucas. 1382 Wyclif Lev. xxii. 24 Al beeste that..kitt and taken awey the ballokes is. 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Hawking C viij, Geue hir the ballockye [1496 balockes] of a Buc. 1579 Baker Guydon's Quest. Cyrurg. 33. 1721–1800 in Bailey. Not in J. 1966 J. K. Baxter Pig Island Lett. 35 I'd give my ballocks now For a bucket of steam. |
† b. Comb. (all obs.): ballock-cod, the scrotum; ballock('s)-grass (also hare's ballocks and sweet ballocks), popular name of several species of orchis, from the shape of the tubers; ballock-hafted a., with a ball(ock)-shaped handle; ballock-knife, ? one worn at the girdle (cf. L. clūnāculum, f. clūnis); ballock-stone = ballock; ballock-wort, orchis.
| c 1450 in Wright Voc. (W.) /599 Omembrana, balluc cod. Ibid. /677 Piga, balloke code. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 128 b, Whyt satyrion..or in other more vnmanerly speche, hares ballockes. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 222 Some cal it also Orchis..Ballock grasse..and Bastard Satyrion. 1597 Gerard Herbal i. cii. §4. 169 Orchis spiralis..some call them Sweet Ballocks. 1655 Mouff. & Benn. Health's Impr. (1746) 313 Ballock's-grass, or Satyrium. 1438 Test. Ebor. (1855) 63 Unum dagar ballokhefted. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 121 A ballok-knyf With botones ouergylte. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 236, I have brysten both my balok stones, So fast hyed I hedyr. c 1450 in Wright Voc. (W.) /609 Saturia, ballokwort. |
2. pl. fig. a. A person (in a state of entanglement or confusion). Cf. bollock 3.
| 1916 Joyce Portr. Artist 272 I'm a ballocks, he said, shaking his head in despair. 1922 ― Ulysses 287 Who's the old ballocks you were talking to? |
b. Nonsense. Cf. ball n.1 15 b.
| 1939 J. Cary Mister Johnson 193 For God's sake, don't talk ballocks, Johnson. |
3. Comb. ballock-naked adj., completely naked.
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 610 See them there stark ballock-naked. |
▪ II. ˈballock, v. slang.
Also bollock.
[f. the n.; cf. bollock.]
trans. To reprimand or tell off severely. Freq. ˈballocking vbl. n., a severe reprimand; cf. rollicking vbl. n. 2.
| 1938 Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 2) Add. 978/1. 1948 ― Dict. Forces' Slang 9 Ballocking, bollocking. 1950 C. MacInnes To Victors ii. 211 I'm going to give Frau Dieckhoff a good bollocking. 1959 I. Jefferies Thirteen Days v. 63 He had been bollocking a sick man. 1967 D. Pinner Ritual xviii. 176 He knew he would get a bollocking from his super. 1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 19 Jenny gave me a formulaic ballocking for not alerting her of my premature arrival. 1974 P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry xi. 95, I got ballocked left, right and centre. 1978 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Feb. 199/1 Sir John French, CIGS, came down for open day at ‘The Shop’, gave everyone a bollocking for slackness and indiscipline, and shortly afterwards retired the Commandant. |