Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A game played on a device in which the player operates a plunger to shoot a ball down or along a slanted surface having obstacles and targets, often equipped with flippers to keep the ball in play.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as bead-sight. Also called pinball-sight.
  • noun A small round pincushion, usually made on cardboard: sometimes of other forms.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun games A game, played on a device with a sloping base, in which the player operates a spring-loaded plunger to shoot a ball, between obstacles, and attempts to hit targets and score points.
  • noun The ball used in pinball.
  • noun figuratively, soccer A situation where a ball is frantically kicked between many players.
  • verb To dart about rapidly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a game played on a sloping board; the object is to propel marbles against pins or into pockets

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Further "pinball" is a pretty implausible inspiration for a naming a show that has no connection whatsoever to pinball.

    Boing Boing: December 28, 2003 - January 3, 2004 Archives 2003

  • “I think it’s tragic,” said Roger Sharp, director of marketing for WMS Gaming, formerly Williams, once a leader in pinball and video games, now a leader in slot machines.

    EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Video arcades’ last gasp 2008

  • The Escapist runs an article about the "old video games," namely pinball machines.

    Archive 2007-08-01 2007

  • By Harriet Baskas, msnbc.com contributor National Pinball Museum opening Saturday, Jan. 14, in Baltimore, Md., first discovered the coin-operated, arcade-game known as pinball when he was 4 years old.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2012

  • Between this and David's Midnight Magic, the 80s saw me in a kind of pinball-themed heaven.

    Archive 2006-04-01 Greg Tannahill 2006

  • Between this and David's Midnight Magic, the 80s saw me in a kind of pinball-themed heaven.

    Games You Should Have Played - 1983 Greg Tannahill 2006

  • The "pinball" followup at least makes the "we came up with it on our own" sound remotely plausible, though in fact those answers (from the same person) are simply mutually exclusive.

    Boing Boing: December 28, 2003 - January 3, 2004 Archives 2003

  • The purpose of this exclusion was to exclude games such as "pinball" from the provisions of the Gambling Act, 1965.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • Except "pinball", that is too old (it's the only version I found in repository).

    LinuxQuestions.org Mr. Alex 2010

  • The Boardwalk hosts fireworks every Wednesday night, movies on the beach every Thursday night and everyday amusements such as pinball at the Silverball Museum, a whimsical WaterPark for kids, a miniature golf course and glass-blowing at Hot Sand.

    PRWeb - Daily News Feed 2010

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