ball game

noun
1.
any game played with a ball, especially baseball or softball.
2.
Informal. a situation and all its attendant circumstances:
Having a new administration in power changes the entire ball game at city hall.
Compare new ball game.
3.
Archaeology. a ceremonial game of both ritual and sporting significance, played by teams on a ball court in Mesoamerican cultures from the Preclassic period to the Spanish conquest.
Also, ballgame.
Origin
1840-50, Americanism
Examples from the web for ball game
  • If lower reproduction rate is linked to intelligence, that's the evolutionary ball game, right there.
  • Then ask them what feelings they get when they look at the flag or when they sing the national anthem at a ball game or elsewhere.
  • Also, piloting-wise this is an entirely different ball game without discipline.
British Dictionary definitions for ball game

ball game

noun
1.
any game played with a ball
2.
(US & Canadian) a game of baseball
3.
(informal) a situation; state of affairs (esp in the phrase a whole new ball game)
Slang definitions & phrases for ball game

ball game

noun phrase
  1. A given set of conditions; complex of circumstances; situation: What we do and what they do isn't the same ball game (1960s+)
  2. A competition; rivalry: It's NBC ahead in the network ratings ball game, NBC says/ Goodbye, ball game, he said (late 1960s+)
  3. The decisive element or event, esp in a competition or encounter; the NAME OF THE GAME: The third ward vote is the ball game in this town (late 1960s+)
Related Terms

that's the ball game, a whole new ball game