basketball

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

• noun A game played between two teams of five players each, the object being to throw a ball through an elevated basket on the opponent's side of a rectangular court. Players may move the ball by dribbling or passing with the hands.
• noun The inflated, spherical ball used in this game.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A game played with a ball resembling a foot-ball, in which the object is to throw the ball into one of two baskets (the goals) placed at opposite ends of the field.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A ball game, usually played indoors in an area called the basketball court, in which two opposing teams of five players each contest with each other to toss a large inflated ball (the basketball) into opposite goals (baskets) resembling baskets, each typically a cylindrical mesh suspended from a circular rim which is held ten feet above the court. A goal scored by passing the basketball through the basket may count from one to three points, depending on the situation in which it was thrown.
• noun The inflatable ball used in the game of basketball.

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

• noun sports, uncountable A sport in which two opposing teams of five players strive to put a ball through a hoop.
• noun basketball, countable The particular kind of ball used in the sport of basketball.

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

• noun a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop
• noun an inflated ball used in playing basketball