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Logistics is the ball and chain of armored warfare.
Heinz Guderian

Meaning of "ball and chain" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF BALL AND CHAIN

ball and chain play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF BALL AND CHAIN

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Ball and chain is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES BALL AND CHAIN MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Ball and chain

A ball and chain was a physical restraint device historically applied to prisoners, primarily in the British Empire and its former colonies, from the 17th century until as late as the mid 20th century. A ball and chain believed to date to the 17th century was found in the United Kingdom in 2009. It consists of a sphere of high-grade iron approximately 15 centimetres across and weighing around 8 kilograms. The chain is of some 90 centimetres in length and terminates in a leg iron or shackle.

Definition of ball and chain in the English dictionary

The first definition of ball and chain in the dictionary is a heavy iron ball attached to a chain and fastened to a prisoner. Other definition of ball and chain is a heavy restraint. Ball and chain is also a wife.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE BALL AND CHAIN

ball
ball ammunition
ball bearing
ball boy
ball cartridge
ball cock
ball control
ball game
ball girl
ball gown
ball hockey
ball joint
ball lightning
ball mill
ball of fire
ball of muscle
ball pen
ball race
ball tearer
ball valve

WORDS THAT END LIKE BALL AND CHAIN

branched chain
chain
curb chain
daisy chain
door chain
drive chain
fast-food chain
food chain
grand chain
hain
heavy chain
hotel chain
long-chain
Markov chain
mountain chain
open chain
paper chain
side chain
straight chain
supply chain
unchain

Synonyms and antonyms of ball and chain in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «ball and chain» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF BALL AND CHAIN

Find out the translation of ball and chain to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of ball and chain from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «ball and chain» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

球链
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

bola y cadena
570 millions of speakers

English

ball and chain
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

गेंद और चेन
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الكرة و سلسلة
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

шар и цепь
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

bola e uma corrente
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

বল এবং চেইন
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

boulet
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

bola dan rantai
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Ball und Kette
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

ボールチェーン
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

공 및 체인
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Bal lan rantai
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

bóng và chuỗi
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

பந்து மற்றும் சங்கிலி
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

चेंडू आणि शृंखला
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

top ve zincir
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

palla al piede
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

piłka i łańcuch
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

куля і ланцюг
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

bilă și lanț
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

μπάλα και αλυσίδα
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

bal en ketting
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

boll och kedja
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

ball og kjede
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of ball and chain

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «BALL AND CHAIN»

The term «ball and chain» is regularly used and occupies the 95.633 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
55
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «ball and chain» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of ball and chain
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «ball and chain».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «BALL AND CHAIN» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «ball and chain» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «ball and chain» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about ball and chain

EXAMPLES

4 QUOTES WITH «BALL AND CHAIN»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word ball and chain.
1
Heinz Guderian
Logistics is the ball and chain of armored warfare.
2
Chiaki Kuriyama
I once hit Quentin on the head with my ball and chain.
3
Bryn Terfel
For three years, the 'Meistersinger' score was a ball and chain to me. It went with me to every city and concert hall.
4
Mortimer Zuckerman
For the baby boomer generation, a home is now seen not as the cornerstone of advancement but a ball and chain, restricting their ability and their mobility to move and seek out a job at another location.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «BALL AND CHAIN»

Discover the use of ball and chain in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to ball and chain and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Ball and Chain
Taking a side job as a mailman, Clint Adams finds himself in possession of a parcel that causes him to be followed by some gunmen who will soon find out who they are dealing with as the Gunsmith takes action. Original.
J. R. Roberts, 2008
2
Popular Science
Novel. Ball-and-Chain. Desk. Set. Portrays. a. Prisoner's. Dream. By. CHARLES. HERBERT. ALDER. BOWL GLUED TO NWOODEN BASE AND WRAPPED WITh A sectional view of the glass ball, showing the tiny forge, anvil, hand bellows, ...
3
American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive ...
Acquitted. No. 86. To be put at hard labor, with ball and chain, for the space of four months from this date. No. 87. To six months' ball and chain, and to pay all expenses of trial. No. 88. To two months' ball and chain; to pay all expenses of trial, ...
United States. Congress, 1860
4
Daily Life in the Middle Ages
Second, ball-and- chain flails were very rare weapons. Apart from some that date back to the Bronze Age, the few surviving European examples are datable only to the very late ¡5th or early ¡6th century at the earliest. Further, unlike all the ...
Paul B. Newman, 2001
5
Molecular Biology of Membrane Transport Disorders
... by treatment of the intracellular surface of the sodium channel with proteolytic enzymes.59 These results led to the proposal of an autoinhibitory, "ball-and- chain" model for sodium channel inactivation in which an inactivation particle tethered ...
Stanley G. Schultz, 1996
6
Brush Management: Past, Present, Future
Ball and Chain. A ball and chain system was developed for brush control in 27 steep terrain where it is impossible to operate large tractors in parallel posi- Mechanical Practices tions. This modification to chaining was probably first used in the ...
Wayne T. Hamilton, 2004
7
Military Law and Precedents
In an early instance, a part of the sentence is — "to wear a ball and chain attached to his neck for two weeks." " This punishment, however, though very frequently imposed during .the late war, is now comparatively rarely adjudged. The opinion ...
William Winthrop, 2000
8
The Physiology of Excitable Cells
initially for the sodium channel of squid axons, but later for potassium channels. This is known as the 'ball-and-chain' model: inactivation is produced by a mobile part of the channel protein that swings into the inner mouth of the open channel ...
David J. Aidley, 1998
9
A New Vision for Dating
The woman was walking down the street with a ball and chain around her ankle! Was she an escaped convict? Not by the way she was dressed. His face was almost pressed to the window. She dragged her left foot slowly as it labored under ...
Stacy Hord, 2012
10
Ball and Chain
So what exactly is the appeal?;"Ball and Chain" is a witty but essentially srious dissection of our continued obsession with marriage, an obsession that cn lead to spiralling debt, personal misery and even bankruptcy.
Nicky Falkof, 2007

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «BALL AND CHAIN»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term ball and chain is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Women's World Cup: Ellis proves doubters wrong with coaching …
To play devil's advocate, Ellis only detached Lloyd from the ball and chain when she was forced to — tweaking the lineup for the quarterfinal ... «Goal.com, Jul 15»
2
Making it in Unreal: play as a self-delivering parcel in Unbox
If a fired ball and chain connects with a player, it can send them spinning off in a random direction - possibly towards the objective. And the ... «PCGamesN, Jul 15»
3
AC/DC: how the greatest rock band survived
For one concert, Johnson climbed aboard the giant ball and chain that gets winched up to the rigging during Ballbuster, only to drop his ... «The Australian, Jul 15»
4
You never know whether Ryano is gone
He sometimes looked like he was dragging a ball and chain while running towards the crease. Maybe his chronic knee condition made it look ... «Wisden India, Jul 15»
5
Dredge spoils / State needs a plan to keep shore waterways functional
... done in a cost-effective, acceptable way - and soon, before the sediment builds into a bigger, heavier ball and chain on the shore economy. «Press of Atlantic City, Jul 15»
6
Balls of Steel
That 'old ball and chain' steals your freedom, one might think. But the gravity-defying installation at Palladium, Mumbai, begs a rethink. «Daily News & Analysis, Jul 15»
7
The right to pursue happiness
While we may joke about how miserable an institution marriage is, how our significant others are just a “ball and chain.” But experts say married ... «hngnews.com, Jul 15»
8
Protesters are forced into hypocrisy
... toward innovation in alternative-energy sources, Greenpeace wouldn't be forced to lug the hypocrite label around like a ball and chain. «Times Colonist, Jul 15»
9
Mexican trucker gets his wife, 21, thrown in JAIL for refusing to do …
Ball and chain: Dulce Requena Garcia, 21 (not pictured), spent 12 hours behind bars in a Tampico, Mexico, jail after her spouse called police ... «Daily Mail, Jul 15»
10
Forced rehabilitation of drug users in Indonesia not a solution
... spiritual centres that boast “curing” drug dependence using magic, prayer, beatings, and shackling drug users in cages with a ball and chain. «The Conversation AU, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Ball and chain [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/ball-and-chain>. May 2024 ».
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