Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An old game played by two or more persons with a ball, bat, and trap (see trap, n., 5).
  • noun The ball used in the game of trap-ball.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An old game of ball played with a trap. See 4th trap, 4.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A game in which a batsman makes a ball hit a trap (device) that sends the ball into the air, from where the batsman has to hit it again

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

trap +‎ ball

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Examples

  • - personal matters, gossip, and so forth - and that he never got any thing but what was played like a trapball all over town; but, in this case, as a mere matter of speculation, he confessed he did feel desirous of unravelling the riddle; in fact, it preyed on his mind; he couldn't rest last night; he

    The flush times of Alabama and Mississippi : a series of sketches, 1853

  • Stoolball, knurr-and-spell, trapball, ninepins, handbasll, bowls and football were all customary pastimes of the Easter holidays. "

    Risky Regencies Diane Gaston 2010

Comments

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  • Older examples of are written trap-ball, with a hyphen.

    This old English ball game was also called nipsy or knur and spell.

    September 24, 2011