Definitions

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

  • noun A game that is played, often on a four-walled court, by two or more players who alternately hit a small rubber ball against the front wall with the hand, with play stopping if the ball bounces twice on the floor or does not reach the front wall.
  • noun The ball used in this game.
  • noun Team handball.
  • noun A violation of the rules in soccer in which a player other than the goalie inside the penalty area carries, strikes, or propels the ball with the hand or arm. A hand ball is usually called when the hand or arm is away from the body and touches the ball.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The sport of throwing and catching a ball: the common game of ball before the use of bats.
  • noun A game in which a small ball is batted or struck by one of two players with his hand against a wall, and, on rebounding, is struck in like manner by the other. This continues until one player fails to strike and return the ball on the fly or first bound.
  • noun A bulb or hollow punctured ball of india-rubber designed to be compressed by the hand.

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

  • noun A small ball, usually made of rubber, thrown or struck with the hand in various games.
  • noun A game played with such a ball, as by players striking it to and fro between them with the hands, or, when played in a walled court or against a single wall, striking it in turns against a wall, until one side or the other fails to return the ball.

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

  • noun uncountable A team sport where two teams of seven players each (six players and a goalkeeper) pass and bounce a ball trying to throw it in the goal of the opposing team.
  • noun countable The small rubber ball used in the sport of handball.
  • noun countable, soccer The offence of touching the ball with the hands.
  • noun uncountable, US An American sport in which players must, in turn, bounce a ball off of a wall, taking care not to miss their turn.
  • noun countable, US The small rubber ball used in this sport.
  • noun countable, Australian Rules Football An act of passing a football by holding it with one hand and hitting it with the other.
  • noun Ireland, uncountable An Irish sport, very similar to the American sport, in which players must bounce a ball off a wall.
  • verb To manually load or unload a container, trailer, or to otherwise manually move bulk goods (often on pallets) from one type of transport receptacleto another.
  • verb soccer To illegally touch the ball with the hand or arm.
  • verb Australian Rules Football To (legally) pass a football by holding it with one hand and hitting it with the other.
  • verb sexuality, slang To insert a hand into someone's anus.

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

  • noun a game played in a walled court or against a single wall by two or four players who strike a rubber ball with their hands
  • noun a small rubber ball used in playing the game of handball

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Iceland eyes gold medal in handball - USATODAY. com

    Iceland eyes gold medal in handball 2008

  • The Danes have won medals in handball, badminton, rowing, and sailing.

    Olympic Elite 2004

  • The Danes have won medals in handball, badminton, rowing, and sailing.

    Olympic Elite 2004

  • He bundled a finish over the line after Petr Cech half-cleared from Nani, although there was a suggestion of handball from the Italian.

    BBC - Ouch 2010

  • Henry's handball is French 'sports story of the year'

    The First Post: Latest 2009

  • I play a sport called handball and my inspiration comes from watching my dad and my mom play for many, many, many years and my dad winning a trophy in doubles.

    CNN Transcript Sep 7, 2006 2006

  • It's also unrelated to handball, which is totally different, and is played with something usually referred to as a "dodgeball", named after the sport for which it was created.

    KICK! Back - Anil Dash 2005

  • Earlier in the week, the court sentenced 32 people who took part in demonstrations - including at least two members of the Bahrain national handball team - to 15 years in prison for protesting illegally.

    NYT > Home Page By J. DAVID GOODMAN 2011

  • In November of 2009 against Ireland, an uncalled handball by Thierry Henry set up the goal that qualified France for the 2010 Cup, an Irish "spring" to the World Cup, if you will.

    Sports Central | Articles and Columns 2010

  • Kaiser: @Tcompton The penalty given to LA on the handball was a crap call, however, the DC penalty was also crap ...

    WVHooligan - Soccer Blog 2009

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