snowball
To rapidly grow out of proportion or control, from an initially smaller stateTo rapidly grow out of proportion or control, from an initially smaller state.
Recorded US: Dvortygirl, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
» Tom threw a snowball at Mary.
Tom warf mit einem Schneeball nach Maria. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Том кинул в Мэри снежком. — marafon
Том бросил в Мэри снежок. — marafon
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
4 senses(figuratively, intransitive)To rapidly grow out of proportion or control, from an initially smaller state.
The high unemployment rates quickly snowballed into a major budget problem for the government.
(intransitive)To play at throwing snowballs.
throw snowballs at
(transitive)To pelt with snowballs; to throw snowballs at.
(intransitive, slang, vulgar)To receive ejaculated semen in one's mouth, and to then pass it back and forth between one’s mouth and another person’s mouth.
Examples
55 sentencesTom threw a snowball at Mary.
ruТом кинул в Мэри снежком. — marafon
deTom warf mit einem Schneeball nach Maria. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Students were throwing snowballs at each other.
Tom and Mary threw snowballs at me.
Why don't we have a snowball fight?
deLaßt uns doch eine Schneeballschlacht machen! — Waldelfe
Tom and I threw snowballs at each other.
Origin
From Middle English snoweball, snoweballe, snaweballe, snayballe, equivalent to snow + balFrom Middle English snoweball, snoweballe, snaweballe, snayballe, equivalent to snow + ball. Cognate with Scots snawbaw, German Schneeball, Luxembourgish Schnéiball, Dutch sneeuwbal, Afrikaans sneeubal, Limburgish snieëbal, West Frisian sniebal, Saterland Frisian Sneebaal, Sneebal, Swedish snöboll, Elfdalian sniųoboll, Danish snebold, Norwegian Bokmål snøball, Norwegian Nynorsk snøball and Icelandic snjóbolti.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
snowballs, snowballing, snowballed, snowballed| Base form | snowball · to snowball |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | snowballs |
| Present participle | snowballing |
| Past simple | snowballed |
| Past participle | snowballed |
regular · Lesson
Word family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
Collocations
3 patterns- threw snowballs at
- snowballs at each
- threw snowballs
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.