# earball
## English
### Alternative forms

* ear ball

### Etymology

From ear +‎ ball. Noun sense 1 and verb sense 1 is modeled after eyeball.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɪə.bɔːl/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈɪəɹ.bɔl/
** (cot–caught merger) IPA: /ˈɪəɹ.bɑl/
* Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)bɔːl
* Hyphenation: ear‧ball

### Noun

earball (plural earballs)
* (usually in the plural) The ear. [from late 1840s]
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ear
    to keep one's earballs open
    up to one's earballs
    My earballs hurt from listening to this.
** 2023 September 25, Deviant Ollam, 6:29 from the start, in Deviant's Travel Bag Breakdown (video), YouTube:I will occasionally put these [earbuds] in. We've talked occasionally on the channel about my hearing problems, and we'll do another video about protecting your earballs and such […]
** 2023 December 26, @Clippers_steve, Twitter‎:Spotify won't miss tonight. Just fondling my earballs perfectly
** 2025 January 7, @westeawest, Twitter‎:Is explode a transitive verb? It sounds weird to my earballs.
* The act or an instance of listening.
* (acupuncture) A small ball kept in position in the ear and pressed when needed to relieve stress. [from late 2000s]

### Verb

earball (third-person singular simple present earballs, present participle earballing, simple past and past participle earballed)
* (transitive) To listen, especially to check.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:listen

### Further reading

* “earball”, in Collins English Dictionary.
* “earball”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
* “earball” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2025.

### Anagrams

* bare all

## Irish
### Noun

earball m (genitive singular earbaill, nominative plural earbaill)
* Alternative form of eireaball

#### Declension

bare forms
case
singular
plural
nominative
earball
earbaill
vocative
a earbaill
a earballa
genitive
earbaill
earball
dative
earball
earbaill
forms with the definite article
case
singular
plural
nominative
an t-earball
na hearbaill
genitive
an earbaill
na n-earball
dative
leis an earball don earball
leis na hearbaill :

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### Further reading

* Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “earball”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
* Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “earball”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 278

## Scottish Gaelic
### Alternative forms

* earaball, iorball, urball
* (metathesised) ealabar, ulabar

### Etymology

From Old Irish erball.

### Pronunciation

* (Lewis, Uist) IPA: /ˈɯɾɯpəl̪ˠ/
* (Barra, Tiree) IPA: [ˈʉɾʉpəl̪ˠ]
* (Wester Ross) IPA: /ˈuɾupəl̪ˠ/, /ˈɛɾɛpəl̪ˠ/

### Noun

earball m (genitive singular earbaill, plural earbaill)
* a tail
    earball an eich ― paddock-pipe, horsetail
    bun an earbaill ― the rump
    earball sguabach ― a bushy tail
* (informal, humorous) train of a dress

#### Derived terms

* earball an eich (“horsetail”)
* earball na misge (“hangover”)

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### Further reading

* ↑ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “erball”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
* ↑ Oftedal, M. (1956) A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
* ↑ Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1937) The dialect of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
* ↑ Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh (2008) “'Bochanan modhail foghlaimte': Tiree Gaelic, lexicology and Glasgow's historical dictionary of Scottish Gaelic”, in Scottish Gaelic Studies, volume 24, Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen, →ISSN, pages 473-523
* ↑ Roy Wentworth (2003) Gaelic Words and Phrases From Wester Ross / Faclan is Abairtean à Ros an Iar, Inverness: CLÀR, →ISBN
* Edward Dwelly (1911) “earball”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎, 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
* MacLennan, Malcolm (1925) A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Edinburgh: J. Grant, →OCLC