balls

Etymology

noun

1. plural of ball
   Can you believe he can juggle six balls at once?
   W. S. Gilbert, HMS Pinafore When the balls whistle free o'er the bright blue sea / We stand to our guns all day.
2. (vulgar, colloquial) The testicles.
   After that shot, his balls were really hurting!
3. (uncountable, vulgar, colloquial) Masculinity, particularly strength, courage, and force of will; chutzpah; brazenness.
   Douglas: You've got spunk. And balls. And I like that in a woman. 2007 September 28, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 2, Episode 6
   He must have a lot of balls to talk to his boss that way.
   He's the guy with the big balls in that group.
   Balls is all that it takes to succeed.
   Balls is all it takes to handle these people 1960, Carlos Fuentes, Sam Hileman, Where the Air is Clear, page 80
   Balls, gentlemen, balls is what you need to win at this game 2006, Leonardo Padura, Havana Blue, page 137
4. (uncountable, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, vulgar, colloquial) Synonym of bollocks, nonsense.
   That's a load of balls.
5. (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, vulgar) A balls-up; a botched job.
   Don't make a balls of it!

verb

1. (vulgar, transitive) Speaking or acting with bravado to achieve (something)
   You're going up to the front door of that mansion and ballsing your way inside. 1981, Tiny Boyles, Hank Nuwer, William Boyles, A Killing Trade, page 191
   The poor fuck is broken-hearted, and he thinks he is ballsing it out really well, but he isn't. 2009, Keith Brooke, The Accord, page 135
   He was ballsing his way through the conversation. For the first time, I caught a glimpse of something vulnerable behind the usual brashness. 2014, Claire Farrell, Make You: Stake You #2
2. (vulgar, slang) To engage in sexual intercourse.

verb

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of ball

adv

1. (slang) Very. Intensifier.
   It is balls cold out there.