balls! excl.
1. (also bawls!) rubbish! nonsense!
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | letter 6–12 Sept. in Read Letters to James Joyce (1968) 45: I am so damn sick of energetic stupidity. The ‘strong’ work ... balls! | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Ulysses 130: Foot and mouth disease! the editor cried in scornful invective. Great nationalist meeting in Borriss-in-Ossory. All balls! | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Home to Harlem 130: ‘Bumbole’ was now a popular expletive for Jake, replacing such expressions as ‘Bull,’ ‘bawls,’ ‘walnuts,’ and ‘blimey.’ Ever since the night at the Congo when he heard the fighting West Indian girl cry, ‘I’ll slap you bumbole,’ he had always used the word. When his friends asked him what it meant, he grinned and said, ‘Ask the monks’. | |
| Bottom Dogs 266: ‘Good mawnin’’ said the warden, / ‘Merry Christmas to yuse alls,’ / And as he passed back up the aisle, / The prisoners answered, ‘Ba-aals!’. | |
| World to Win 61: The Master of the poorhouse / Strode through the dismal halls / Crying: ‘Merry, Merry Christmas!’ / But the paupers hollered: ‘BALLS!’. | |
| letter 9 Dec. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 5: I have a drumming sensation at the back of my skull. My tooth still aches. Balls & anus! | |
| Amboy Dukes 32: Aw, balls [...] I’ve had enough of that jerk for one day. | |
| Alcoholics (1993) 23: ‘Balls!’ shrieked Humphrey Van Twyne III. ‘Balls, balls, balls!’. | |
 | Beds in the East (1972) 552: ‘Balls,’ bawled Moneypenny rudely. ‘You’ve got to get into the jungle’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Storms of Summer 34: ‘I haven’t thought about it.’ ‘Balls, you haven’t!’. | |
| Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 236: ‘My career is over, everyone says so.’ ‘Big balls. Do you agree with everyone?’. | |
| Skeletons 7: ‘A great loss,’ he sighed, making conversation, ‘to American literature.’ ‘Balls,’ I said. [...] ‘Big burning balls.’. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Outside In Act II: Balls! I was sick of the lot of you. | |
| Indep. Rev. 18 July 22: Well, balls to that. | |
| Dead Long Enough 181: You think you need a huge fucking brain to get a Ph.D.? Balls. |
2. an excl. of disappointment.
| Bottom Dogs 209: He heard a small rap at the door [...] It came again; balls, could that soused Swede have followed him, or rung a police alarm. | |
| Snowblind (1978) 40: Kendricks looked at the sky and frowned. ‘Balls,’ he said out loud. It rained. | |
| TwentyFourSeven [film script] (1998) 66: (The fish gets away) Oh balls ... That was a bloody monster, did ya see it? | |
| Cartoon City 60: ‘Shit balls fuck,’ she said. ‘This always happens.’. |
In exclamations
a dismissive excl. aimed at people, objects or circumstances; thus balls to you! balls to that!
| [ | | ‘The Ball of Kirriemuir’ in (1979) 14: Sing balls to your partner, / Arse against the wall; / If ye canna get fucked on Saturday night / Ye’ll never get fucked at all]. |
| letter 20 Dec. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 7: Balls to the war. Balls to a good many things, events, people, institutions. | |
| What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 274: Balls with that ruining-me-in-this-town stuff. | |
| Bang To Rights 185: Balls to them they wont see me for dust when I get out. | |
| Gun in My Hand 205: Balls to that lurk. | |
| (con. WW2) London E1 (2012) 244: Balls to ’em [...] balls to the whole bloody world. | |
| Reinhart in Love (1963) 36: Balls to that. | |
| Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 186: Balls to him [...] As a capitalist he was bearable but as a small-time street grafter he’s bad news. | |
| Difficulties with Girls 140: Oh, balls to you. The pansy-boy act — what was that in aid of? | |
| Bits of String 49: Oh balls to that, don't bang on! | |
| Grand Central Winter (2011) [ebook] ‘Oh, balls to them,’ Barbara croaks, a bit of New Hampshire crustat the edgesof her voice. | |
| Winners Never Lose 182: ‘Oh balls to that’ snapped Mark. ‘We need to get her sorted on her own’. | |
| Glorious Heresies 137: ‘[B]alls to your prayer meetings,’ said the woman. |
a general excl. of dismissal.
| (con. 1960s) Spend, Spend, Spend (1978) 81: I’m going to tell them all to go to balls, especially bosses. |
(orig. US) an excl. of shock, surprise, annoyance etc.
| PlanetQuake 🌐 Or here’s an idea! Stop smoking the sticky purple passion! Holy balls, can you believe it?! That might actually WORK! |
(US) an excl. of refusal, rejection.
| From Here to Eternity (1998) 632: Yellow my big fat ass [...] Yellow my balls. |