blackball
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blackball¹
- /ˈblækbɔːl/ UK
- /ˈblækbɑl/ US, cot caught merger
Where it comes from
From black + ball.
noun blackballs
- A rejection; a vote against admitting someone.
- A black ball used to indicate such a negative vote. Regardless how many other people may have voted to approve a candidate for membership, a single blackball will reject the candidate.
-
A kind of large black sweet, a black-colored gobstopper.
Similar: niggerball
- A substance for blacking shoes, boots, etc. or for taking impressions of engraved work.
-
A game, a standardized version of the English version of eight-ball.
Similar: reds and yellows
verb blackballs · blackballing · blackballed
- To vote against, especially in an exclusive organization. If you're not from a moneyed, well-connected family, you can count on getting blackballed from the fraternity.
-
To ostracize.
Henry knew. If he were blackballed by this distaff Mafia, he was doomed: Endless, but always justifiable, delays would occur in the work he wanted typed.
Similar: blacklist, send to Coventry, brush off, discount, disregard, dissemble, despise, ignore, misheed, misregard, neglect, pass
Blackball²
proper noun
- A small town in Grey district, West Coast, New Zealand, with a history of gold and coal mining.
Talk about this word "blackball." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/blackball. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. blackball. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/blackball "blackball." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/blackball.Cite this
@misc{blackball_2026,
title = {blackball},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/blackball},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
