Editing Ball (section)

{{Short description|Round object}}
{{Other uses}}
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{{pp-move}}
{{use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
[[File:Ball, പന്ത്.JPG|thumb|Group of balls]]

A '''ball''' is a round object (usually [[sphere|spherical]], but can sometimes be [[ovoid]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpZx5wQbxvMC&q=spherical+or+ovoid+ball&pg=PA404|title=Code of Federal Regulations: 1985–1999|date=5 November 1999|publisher=U.S. General Services Administration, National Archives and Records Service, Office of the Federal Register|access-date=5 November 2017|via=Google Books|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107021013/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gpZx5wQbxvMC&pg=PA404&dq=spherical+or+ovoid+ball&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-r96o96fXAhXEDsAKHTKcAr4QuwUIKDAA|archive-date=7 November 2017}}</ref> with several uses. It is used in [[ball game]]s, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for simpler activities, such as catch or [[juggling]]. Balls made from hard-wearing materials are used in [[engineering]] applications to provide very low [[friction]] bearings, known as [[ball bearings]]. [[Black powder|Black-powder]] weapons use stone and metal balls as [[projectile]]s.

Although many types of balls are today made from [[rubber]], this form was unknown outside the [[Americas]] until after the voyages of [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]]. The Spanish were the first Europeans to see the bouncing rubber balls (although solid and not inflated) which were employed most notably in the [[Mesoamerican ballgame]]. Balls used in various sports in other parts of the world prior to Columbus were made from other materials such as animal bladders or skins, stuffed with various materials.

As balls are one of the most familiar spherical objects to humans, the word "ball" may refer to or describe spherical or near-spherical objects.

"Ball" is used metaphorically sometimes to denote something spherical or spheroid, e.g., [[armadillos]] and human beings curl up into a ball, or making a fist into a ball.