netball

noun

1. (uncountable)A (usually women's) team sport derived from basketball, with seven players on each side who attempt to score goals by passing a ball and throwing it into the opponent's goal, which is a raised hoop with a net at one end of the playing area. Unlike basketball, a player in possession of the ball cannot move until the ball is passed to another player.

   “Some excellent photographs are taken of [...] members of the athletic club, "net-ball," "foot-ball," etc., [...]”

   “The next events were ones in which selected members of squads participated while the other members watched and cheered. These were net ball, hockey, tennis, and swimming, and followed in the order given.”

   “In addition to the above prominent clubs, there are a number of cricket, tennis, net-ball, and football clubs in the Colony.”

   “Outcome goals are related directly to end results – e.g. a netball player wants to score more goals / Performance goals are measured against past performance, e.g. a netball player wants to score more goals than in the previous match.”

   “[W]hen I asked each person to nominate the best thing about netball, the overwhelming response was the friendships they had made. Netball friendships have carried people through form slumps, heartbreaking losses and personal tragedies, and it is these friendships that make the wins and the highs so much sweeter.”

2. (countable)The ball used in this sport.

   “Over the years he had stitched Dr. Bailey's black bag, Paul's pram hood, the net balls at the village school, and saddles and bridles for Joan and Ruth when they were small, and kept in trim the footwear that passed and repassed his window as the various owners went about their business on Thrush Green.”

   “'If we could find our netball, you could borrow it,' she said softly. / 'A netball!' he said in disgust. 'A netball is no use. It is not heavy enough. But I would borrow it,' he added quickly. 'It would be better than no ball at all.'”

   “I've never been hit before in my life, except by a netball in PE once, so it takes me a while to realize that my head hasn't just rocketed off the top of my spine but is in fact still attached to the rest of me and that the ringing noise is just the repercussion of the blow sounding in my ears and not an orchestral score blasting from the stereo.”

   “In the MYSA program, organizers made an arrangement with local authorities to provide the young people with access to soccer balls, net balls, and playing fields.”