"furball" meaning in All languages combined

See furball on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Audio: En-au-furball.ogg Forms: furballs [plural]
Etymology: From fur + ball. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|fur|ball}} fur + ball Head templates: {{en-noun}} furball (plural furballs)
  1. A ball of fur, especially one coughed up by a cat. Synonyms: hairball
    Sense id: en-furball-en-noun-VQix8eur Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with French translations, Hair Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 57 6 37 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 68 5 27 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 70 2 28 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 71 2 26 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 71 5 24 Disambiguation of Hair: 81 0 19
  2. (humorous, informal) A particularly furry person or animal. Tags: humorous, informal Translations (furry person or animal): boule de poils [feminine] (French)
    Sense id: en-furball-en-noun-greHlmqU Disambiguation of 'furry person or animal': 1 99 0
  3. (military, aviation, nautical, slang) A large, disorganized battle involving many different aircraft (especially fighters) or warships. Tags: slang
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: dogfight

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fur",
        "3": "ball"
      },
      "expansion": "fur + ball",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From fur + ball.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "furballs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "furball (plural furballs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "dogfight"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "57 6 37",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "68 5 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "70 2 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "71 2 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "71 5 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "81 0 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Hair",
          "orig": "en:Hair",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A ball of fur, especially one coughed up by a cat."
      ],
      "id": "en-furball-en-noun-VQix8eur",
      "links": [
        [
          "ball",
          "ball"
        ],
        [
          "fur",
          "fur"
        ],
        [
          "cough",
          "cough"
        ],
        [
          "cat",
          "cat"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "hairball"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "A particularly furry person or animal."
      ],
      "id": "en-furball-en-noun-greHlmqU",
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "furry",
          "furry"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(humorous, informal) A particularly furry person or animal."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous",
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99 0",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "furry person or animal",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "boule de poils"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Aviation",
          "orig": "en:Aviation",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Military",
          "orig": "en:Military",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Nautical",
          "orig": "en:Nautical",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              20,
              27
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 22:21 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-11-07:",
          "text": "[…]But, as with the furball that had broken out around San Francisco, things escalated once again, as Teruzuki rolled better on her perception check, ambushing Sterett and blowing enough holes in her to force the U.S. destroyer to withdraw.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A large, disorganized battle involving many different aircraft (especially fighters) or warships."
      ],
      "id": "en-furball-en-noun-MohyxwOV",
      "links": [
        [
          "military",
          "military"
        ],
        [
          "aviation",
          "aviation"
        ],
        [
          "nautical",
          "nautical"
        ],
        [
          "large",
          "large"
        ],
        [
          "disorganized",
          "disorganized"
        ],
        [
          "battle",
          "battle"
        ],
        [
          "aircraft",
          "aircraft"
        ],
        [
          "fighter",
          "fighter"
        ],
        [
          "warship",
          "warship"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(military, aviation, nautical, slang) A large, disorganized battle involving many different aircraft (especially fighters) or warships."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "aeronautics",
        "aerospace",
        "aviation",
        "business",
        "engineering",
        "government",
        "military",
        "natural-sciences",
        "nautical",
        "physical-sciences",
        "politics",
        "transport",
        "war"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-furball.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/En-au-furball.ogg/En-au-furball.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/En-au-furball.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "furball"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "en:Hair"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fur",
        "3": "ball"
      },
      "expansion": "fur + ball",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From fur + ball.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "furballs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "furball (plural furballs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "dogfight"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A ball of fur, especially one coughed up by a cat."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ball",
          "ball"
        ],
        [
          "fur",
          "fur"
        ],
        [
          "cough",
          "cough"
        ],
        [
          "cat",
          "cat"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "hairball"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English humorous terms",
        "English informal terms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A particularly furry person or animal."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "furry",
          "furry"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(humorous, informal) A particularly furry person or animal."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous",
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Aviation",
        "en:Military",
        "en:Nautical"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              20,
              27
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 22:21 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-11-07:",
          "text": "[…]But, as with the furball that had broken out around San Francisco, things escalated once again, as Teruzuki rolled better on her perception check, ambushing Sterett and blowing enough holes in her to force the U.S. destroyer to withdraw.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A large, disorganized battle involving many different aircraft (especially fighters) or warships."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "military",
          "military"
        ],
        [
          "aviation",
          "aviation"
        ],
        [
          "nautical",
          "nautical"
        ],
        [
          "large",
          "large"
        ],
        [
          "disorganized",
          "disorganized"
        ],
        [
          "battle",
          "battle"
        ],
        [
          "aircraft",
          "aircraft"
        ],
        [
          "fighter",
          "fighter"
        ],
        [
          "warship",
          "warship"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(military, aviation, nautical, slang) A large, disorganized battle involving many different aircraft (especially fighters) or warships."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "aeronautics",
        "aerospace",
        "aviation",
        "business",
        "engineering",
        "government",
        "military",
        "natural-sciences",
        "nautical",
        "physical-sciences",
        "politics",
        "transport",
        "war"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-furball.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/En-au-furball.ogg/En-au-furball.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/En-au-furball.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "furry person or animal",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "boule de poils"
    }
  ],
  "word": "furball"
}

Download raw JSONL data for furball meaning in All languages combined (2.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-05-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-01 using wiktextract (89ebc88 and e74c913). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.