meatball

Etymology

meat + ball

noun

1. A ball of minced or ground meat, seasoned and cooked.
   Meatballs may contain ground meat mixed with seasonings, breadcrumbs, mashed potatoes, rice, and liquid. The meat mixture is often shaped, browned. and simmered in a sauce for 30 to 45 minutes over low heat or in a 350° F. oven. During cooking the meat is basted with the sauce occasionally. Meatballs also may be fried in a pan or in deep fat. 1894, Yearbook of Agriculture
   1996: Mrs. Miracle. Debbie Macomber. Pg. 101. I prefer spaghetti with meatballs instead the meat all crumbled in with the sauce.
2. (slang) A stupid person; a meathead.
3. (baseball) An easy pitch to hit, especially thrown right down the middle of the plate.
   And then. A 98.4 fastball on the inside half of the plate, ring him up, Strike 3, game over. It wasn’t a meatball like Terrence Long watched to finish 2003 ALDS Game 5, but it felt the same. 2020, Alex Hall, “Oakland A’s faced all their nightmares in Game 3 and wrote a new ending”, in Athletics Nation
4. (aviation) An optical landing system.
   During a pitching deck recovery a pilot must average out the meatball oscillations at the ramp in an attempt to maintain his airplane on the desired glide slope. 1961, Approach, volume 7
5. (graphical user interface) A menu icon of three horizontal dots.